Westside Subdivision Homes Ready for Residents

Published Aug 27, 2026 3:24 pm

Westside Subdivision looking north

Tuolumne, CA — Nearly one-third of the 30 Westside Subdivision homes are complete with six homes available for residents to move into this week.

The new homes are two blocks south of the Tuolumne Resiliency Center and four blocks away from Westside Memorial Park on Willow Avenue, Oak Street and all around Railroad Court. 

Darryl Tinkle, President of the Tuolumne Economic Development Authority (TEDA) provided a tour of the project in Tuolumne. All the land is non trust land, not part of land designated as the tribe’s, meaning property taxes have and will be paid on all the properties. Tinkle details the tribe took on the project to help out the local economy and is excited to see the benefit to the community of this new affordable housing. Of the 22 subcontractors involved 17 were locals. Specifically a Home Energy Rating System (HERS) testing for the HVAC system was not available and nor were framers. Moorfield Construction out of Sacramento was used, they also assisted with the expansion of the hotel as detailed here. Tinkle also detailed TEDA has a much lower developer fee of $600,000 where most other developers charge $1 to $1.5 million.

Twenty of the homes are four bedrooms with two baths and ten of the homes have three bedrooms with two baths. Six of the homes are specifically built to ADA standards for accessibility. Tinkle estimated the homes cost between $600,000 to $400,000 each to build. The finishing touches are being added with all of the homes likely to be rented out by mid-October. All the homes have solar panels on the roof and sprinklers, and most have underground propane tanks. 

The monthly rent of each house depends on the income of the family living in it. The project has to follow income limits to qualify as it does as affordable low-income housing. The homes also cannot be sold, they must be managed by TEDA for at least the next 15 years. According to Tinkle residents are selected from a waiting list, over 300 applied but over time the list is down to about 65 active and waiting. He encourages applicants, who do not have to be tribe members, because a mix of low-income households are needed so some households may get bumped to the top of the list. The income details and the application are at the TEDAinc.com website here.

Construction on the development began in May 2025. The ground around the homes has been treated with a perennial wildflower hydroseed mix. If the tenant agrees and maintains the landscaping the water fees will be paid but TEDA will not force tenants to devote time and money to it.

All water run-off management plans were followed during construction. Tinkle shared while the plans had several homes with only sloping yards in the end retaining walls had to be added to ensure that soil erosion and water run-off would be properly managed. All the homes come with appliances except a washer and dryer and there is place with a hook up for a generator.

Still under construction is a community center that will include a kitchen and laundry facilities, a basketball court, and a playground. All the amenities are expected to be finished by October. Tuolumne County will also be installing a bus stop in a few weeks and when everything is done the county will also seal the road.

Tinkle notes the Mill Pond Dam nearby was completed at a cost of $15 million about two years ago. The water retention pond provides a scenic wetlands area to the west behind the development with the silo known as ‘Burner’ overlooking the lake. The lake is deep enough that CAL Fire can and has used the water to fight fires. On the other side, where Railroad Court is, a boulder the size of a house could not be blasted apart and was slowly jackhammered down before a large retaining wall was built.  

Other recent projects the TEDA has completed include the expansion of the Bear Creek Station (across from the hotel) to sell more grocery-type items as detailed here, stadium seating at Westside for special events, the RV Park and Elevate Family Fun Park.

Photo by Sabrina Biehl of the Mill Pond dam, water retention pond and Burner, the silo on the right.