Possible Projects To Bring Jobs To Tuolumne County

Photo taken by: Tracey Petersen

Tuolumne County, CA – Some new projects could bring new jobs to Tuolumne County and while still in the planning stages will require input from business leaders and the public.

District 4 Supervisor Kathleen Haff was this past weekend’s Mother Lode Views guest where she spoke about the projects. One came to light with the recent supply chain issues created by the COVID pandemic. Haff asserted that the shortages stretched from toilet paper to tri-tip, which impacts the county’s ranching industry.

“The people in this county and Calaveras County have to go down to the valley to do their meat processing for a bona fide USDA type meat processing plant,” detailed Haff. “So, we started talking about what it would take to bring a plant here.”

That conversation evolved into Haff working with University of California Extension Offices and rural county representatives to help get the ball rolling. There has already been one meeting and they plan to invite area ranchers to get involved.

“This will also be something that we need to do a feasibility study on. We need to know how much feedstock there is, what size, and what model do we want to create. Would it be a public/private, a non-profit? There are all sorts of different things to consider,” outlined Haff, adding, “It’s a fun project that is very collaborative and I’m looking forward to providing something we don’t have.”

Two other projects have to do with the housing shortage. The first looks at alternatives to help with affordable housing. Haff relayed that she has been talking with a 3D printing company in regards to building homes. Don’t think plastic, instead, it uses concrete.

“You can be a lot more creative, you don’t have to do square angles; you can do rounded ones.” Haff continued, “This project is not necessarily being done with the county, although the county is aware of it. It’s with a non-profit to possibly do some demonstration projects here in Tuolumne County for some homes. If it works well, we’ll be expanding upon that.”

The other project involves creating a housing collaborative symposium where any and all people involved in housing will be invited to come together. Haff maintains it is a way to learn the stakeholders. “We’re all in our own silos and nobody knows what anybody else is doing. Whether it’s government, non-profit, or for-profit. So, we’re going to bring partnerships together to learn what we have and what we need to get.”

The plan is to have the symposium sometime this year but no date has yet been set. To hear Haff’s entire Mother Lode Views show, click here.