OAKLEY DEVELOPMENT
	DECEMBER 2003

by Cindy Ehling
Photos by Brad Shifflett

Driving down Main Street through the town of Oakley always leaves the impression that the municipality has seemingly lagged behind some other East County communities in the quality of its downtown development and preservation efforts. In the words of Representative Tauscher, “Currently, the city has a lack of adequate public infrastructure and outdated land-use patterns within its downtown area that inhibits long-term financial investment.”

To be specific, Oakley Development projects face funding problems because of the municipality’s limited ability to generate very much revenue from sales taxes. Only $9,500 a year is spent in town by each Oakley resident, which is much less than revenues in other towns due to Oakley’s lack of large retail establishments like Sears or Target. However, the city is working hard to catch up.

Civic Center Project
A major new development, called the Civic Center Project, will hopefully be funded, in part, by a share of the VA-HUD financing bill, which Representative Ellen Tauscher helped push through the House of Representatives and is helping to push it through the process to completeness. In doing so Rep. Tauscher recently made the gracious observation: “The city of Oakley has been working hard to bring businesses back downtown while enhancing the original charm of downtown Oakley. This money is a smart investment in our local economy, the livability of this community, and Oakley’s future.”

I spoke with Rochelle Henson, the Senior Planner with Oakley, about the Civic Center Project. She said that the Oakley Redevelopment Agency is creating the project on 7.5 acres of land on the SW corner of Main St. at Norcross Road. Plans are being made to build 65,300 square feet of office and retail space, which will include general retail, stores, restaurants, and a 24,000 square feet Civic Center building. Space will also be provided at the location for a town park.

Development of the site will be carried out in phases. The first phase will be 15,000 square feet of the government office space, hopefully to be completed within a year. The Oakley City offices will move into temporary quarters in this facility until the next phase is completed several years from now.

Oakley planners intend that the Civic Center Project will anchor future downtown development efforts. The Redevelopment Agency plans to partner with other developers in creating ongoing cycles of building and development in order to attract new businesses and help current businesses remain successful.

Good Chemistry!
Within three years DuPont plans to make available 60 acres for commercial development. The site is the first part of the total 371 acres at the location to be developed. A 180-acre section is wetland and unavailable for development. The other 191 acres will eventually be made available but must first be cleared of toxic residue left over from the days the land was used as a chemical manufacturing site.

By 2005 DuPont plans to present a plan for development based upon Oakley’s needs and will find developers to carry out the plan. Construction will begin August 2005.

Development will be carried out in five phases. The first two of these have already been completed: long-term market assessment and the definition of appropriate land use. The remaining three phases include:

1. Preparation of Specific Plan (September 2003–January 2004)
2. Preparation of marketing and solicitation strategy (September 2004–July 2005)
3. Implementation of projects (August 2005)

Other Development Notes
A new Safeway Shopping Center will be built on the corner of O’Hara Avenue and Laurel Road. As part of the area improvement, Laurel Road will eventually become a six-lane road and a traffic light will be placed at the corner of Laurel and O’Hara.

Kwame Reed, Associate Planner for Oakley, told me that Oakley is also conducting an annexation study with a view to possibly bringing in a portion of unincorporated Contra Costa County, from East Cypress Road to the Delta.

There is some pressure to do this, since a new Shea Housing project that will include 1,300 new homes and some scattered shopping centers would be included as part of that
annexation.

The January issue of 110° – East County Living will provide detailed information about development plans going on in unincorporated areas of East Contra Costa County, such as Byron, Discovery Bay, and Bethel Island.

Some people are afraid of change. It makes them anxious and annoyed when things don’t remain the same.

I think the planned improvements that are coming to the town of Oakley are exciting. I’m glad for the people who live and work there; I’m looking forward to watching the changes come and to visit the new stores when they are completed. I can’t wait to see what happens next! °

Cindy Ehling is a contributing writer for 110° magazine. You can reach her at cindy@110mag.com