6/14/2006
Maria Miranda
MADERA TRIBUNE

North Fork residents received good news Tuesday afternoon when the Madera County Board of Supervisors voted to transfer ownership of the North Fork Mill Site to the North Fork Community Development Council (CDC).

The mill is a 135-acre site that was given to the County’s Redevelopment Agency after it closed in 1997.

After acquiring the mill, the County’s Redevelopment Agency was required to clean up the site which has numerous environmental concerns such as contamination of the soil and ground water from leaking underground storage tanks.

The North Fork Community Development Council wanted to lake ownership of the mill in order to renovate the area and the Board of Supervisors supported the transfer unanimously.

The development council was excited to gain the mill since it is a major part of the North Fork area.

Alice Higman, the council’s administrative assistant, said the site will benefit the community by bringing in tourism.

She described the current state of the mill as an “eyesore” in the beautiful North Fork scenery that is in need of restoration.

Sharon Carter, North Fork CDC administrator, said the council has numerous plans for the site.

The council may build a women’s club community center at the site or sell portions of the land to companies such as a BMX biking company, Carter said.

Transforming the mill site into a productive area is the main project of the development council, which is a nonprofit organization focusing on promoting the social, economic and environmental welfare of North Fork.

Carter said owning the site is exciting but scary since it will take a lot of effort to restore.

“The first priority is cleanup.” Carter said. “It’ll be in stages depending on funding, weather and availability of manpower.”

Carter added that the first stage is fixing the underground storage tanks which should be completed in August.

The only concern the Board of Supervisors had with the transfer is ensuring the cleanup will continue before any portion of the mill is sold.

County Counsel Dave Prentice added in a provision to the Memorandum of Understanding between the redevelop merit agency and the North Fork council that solved that problem.

The provision states that before any portion of the mill is sold the section must be proven adequately restored.

Furthermore, the memorandum states that if the North Fork council does not comply, or does not continue to maintain the site, ownership will revert back to the county’s development agency.

Courtesy of the Madera Tribune