Jamestown Mine Sold

Jamestown, CA — Tuolumne County has agreed to sell its portion of the Jamestown Mine Property.

The vote this morning was 5-0. The negotiated cost is $169,000. The developers Yosemite Gardens Park, Incorporated will pay the required water monitoring costs, which will equal around $1.5 million over the next 15 years. Those costs had been coming out of the county’s General Fund.

District Three Supervisor Evan Royce stated, “I realize that selling 300 acres for 160 thousand dollars appears to be a ridiculous move by the county, however, this action today is a major step towards removing the massive burden that we’ve carried since Tuolumne County made the massive mistake of acquiring this land.”

The developers plan to build ball fields, lodging, shopping and create a garden area similar to Butchart Gardens in British Columbia.

“I’m quite pleased with the way things are going,” said Developer Vincent Estell. “It is not near as fast as I’d like it to go, but I’ve relegated myself into a position of saying ‘that’s just the way it is.’

Estell added, “I’m happy with the way that the administrative staff has worked with us to move things along, but I’m still hoping that as we start to pick up the pace, it will move faster.”

The Yosemite Gardens group claims that there is the potential to create 1,740 full and part time jobs with the project.

District Two Supervisor Randy Hanvelt said, “I look forward to a ribbon cutting ceremony one of these days, and the sooner the better.”

The project had previously been referred to as Gold Rush Gardens.