Colleges’ promises unkept, critics say

By Alicia Castro | Posted: Friday, April 12, 2013 Residents pay taxes, get little in  return Many Calaveras County residents interested in community  college offerings are fed up with nearly $4.5 million in property taxes and bond  measure payments being funneled into two nearby college districts with few local  services offered in return. Valley Springs business owner Dave Tanner, who ran last  year for a seat on the Delta college district board,... Read More

What’s happening with Columbia College bond money?

Written by Brenna Swift, The Union Democrat April 12, 2013 When the Yosemite Community College District passed a  $326 million bond measure in 2004, one of the largest school bond  measures in California that year, Columbia College culinary students  hoped to get new digs out of the deal. Nine years later, the college plans to spend $9.2  million in bond money renovating the top floor of the building where the hospitality management program is... Read More

County lags in building rebound

Posted on April 16, 2013 By Kristine Williams Construction in Calaveras County has been slowly picking up over the past few months, though the increase in activity mostly has been in relation to small repair and addition projects – like this structure in San Andreas – as compared to single-family homes. A Bureau of Labor Statistics report released earlier this month noted a single bright spot for March’s Employment Report – construction-related... Read More

Modest Housing Recovery

“Housing is back,” according to Valerie Moon of the Calaveras County Association of Realtors. More than five years after the housing bubble burst and prices collapsed, Calaveras County housing prices are rising. Between rising demand and limited supply, home prices are making real gains for the first time since 2006, Moon said. First-quarter sales for Calaveras showed an increase in median property values by 17.5 percent over the last quarter... Read More

Work set for 2018 on winding Highway 4

Written by Sean Janssen, The Union Democrat April 11, 2013 http://www.uniondemocrat.com/News/Local-News/Work-set-for-2018-on-winding-Highway-4 Most of the winding Highway 4 between Angels Camp and Copperopolis is in line to be straightened, with construction planned for 2018. About 100 people attended an open house with project planners and engineers Wednesday night to hear and see the latest on the project estimated at $56 million to complete. The... Read More

Tuolumne wants New Melones Water

Written by Chris Caskey, The Union Democrat April 10, 2013 07:56 am http://www.uniondemocrat.com/News/Local-News/TUD-wants-promised-NM-water   Some Tuolumne Utilities District leaders want to see water from New Melones in local hands. The district Board of Directors on Tuesday discussed water allocations at the federally managed reservoir and a decades-old agreement that was supposed to allow Tuolumne County to purchase up to 9,000 acre-feet... Read More

How would you restart the economy?

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Buzz Eggleston /The Calaveras Enterprise Housing – call it residential development – has to be a major part of any economic recovery in Calaveras County. We have more land, and more suitable land, for new housing than our neighboring counties, and we have a strong incentive – jobs. We just need to be smarter when we build housing. The mistakes of the past are all around us. But housing is not just construction jobs. Housing... Read More

Calaveras board adds on meetings

Written by Sean Janssen, The Union Democrat April 10, 2013 08:00 am The Calaveras County Board of Supervisors is preparing to meet more often and sometimes in the evenings. The board reached a consensus during a study session Tuesday afternoon on adding a third meeting per month on a quarterly basis beginning in July. Supervisors have met on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month for almost two years, scaling back from first through fourth Tuesdays... Read More

Calaveras Unified trims staff as enrollment dips

By Dana M. Nichols, Record Staff Writer April 11, 2013 12:00 AM SAN ANDREAS – As the Calaveras Unified School District continues to shrink, so does its staff. Calaveras Unified trustees this week voted unanimously to send layoff notices to three part-time classified employees – a van rider, a custodian, and a yard duty worker. Those layoffs will take effect in June, before the start of a new fiscal year on July 1. The district’s... Read More

Resort for sale

Written by Sean Janssen, The Union Democrat April 10, 2013 08:10 am Bear Valley Mountain Resort and surrounding developments are listed for sale and a resort spokeswoman said an ownership change is a lock. The asking price is not included in a listing at cbremarketplace.com, a site operated by Los Angeles-based commercial real estate broker CBRE. “The number is not public,” said Bear Valley spokeswoman Rosie Sundell. “The brokers are working... Read More