On Tuesday, the Oakley City Council agreed to allow staff to work on an alternate concept to present to the public regarding its 55-acre park on Sellers Avenue.
Oakley City Manager Josh McMurray and staff were seeking approval to explore alternative uses and present a dramatically and different plan to the community in July to gauge interest and seek feedback at both baseball fields or a park focused on the delta usage.
“We do not have to rush, we do not have funding at all for the park,” stated McMurray. “We have applied for grants several times and have been unsuccessful. We have said don’t want to apply for new grants or look for funding until we have a new design. We have some time and can be patient on how we plan this site.”
Under the direction Tuesday, it allows city staff to present the idea of utilizing the park for more of a waterfront destination and provide access to the delta–boating, fishing and activities that center around the delta.
McMurray did acknowledged that they do have a Memorandum of Understanding with the Coastal Conservancy which outlines the use of this property and specifically says “non-motorized boats” which the city would have to engage many stakeholders to renegotiate usages.
“What can we do with the water?” asked McMurray. “We can be more proactive and attract fishing tournaments to the city. Fishing tournaments bring many people from outside the area in. They spend a lot of money on hotel rooms, gas, they eat.”
McMurray believes they had an opportunity to capitalize on that sector and segment of the economy by creating a destination for people to come. He said these are ideas they want to get input on from the community.
“I don’t believe we have outreached to those people or those groups,” said McMurray. “If we were to give those people an opportunity or a voice, we can hear a different perspective of how this property could be used.”
It was shared this alternative plan would cut into the number of baseball fields at the 55-acre park, but McMurray highlighted with developments coming in the Summer Lakes North area, three more fields would be added along with multiple soccer fields.
Mayor Aaron Meadows asked McMurray if he has spoken with the bass fisherman on the location and if it’s a point they would want to launch from because it looks like a lot slow water to go through to get to fast water.
McMurray responded that they have spoken with them and they felt it was a “viable place to access the delta” and they desire a location further east than the Big Break Marina.
Vice Mayor Anissa Williams asked if this new plan would eliminate the baseball fields.
McMurray shared it would not eliminate the ballfields, but it would reduce the number of fields and would probably not allow for tournament spaces. But he highlighted the city is working with developers who are building out in the Summer Lake North area in the coming years, they will be constructing three baseball fields along with multiple soccer fields.
“It’s not like we are not going to have more fields come online in the near future,” said McMurray who said the developer was constructing their levees at the moment and are poised to build this facility at a much quicker rate than the city would be able to build the 55-acre park.
Williams questioned the camping portion which McMurray highlighted it could be for day use while looking at ideas while soliciting feedback from the community.
“I would be open to seeing an alternative vision, but the caveat is there has to be more youth activities,” said Williams. “If we are going to be taking this away, we will have alternative in other parts of the city, but I feel like we really need to pump up the family enjoyment.”
Mayor Aaron Meadows shared he was not a fan of this change at first, but it grew on him.
“I was initially for loading it with sports fields, I didn’t like this plan that was here. There is 37 items on here. That is probably 30 to many. I thought everyone tried to have their little piece and it just created a mess,” said Meadows. “I wanted to see athletic fields and wanted to see a place for us to hold tournaments and bring people in. When I started thinking about this idea. It makes sense because we could put a baseball and soccer field anywhere in Oakley. We can’t put aquatic uses anywhere in Oakley because we have to have a river. It does make sense to utilize this site for what has been mentioned.”
He didn’t have a problem with the camping aspect citing the cub scouts or boy scouts would probably use it and a different demographic would use it—versus an athletic facility.
“We have a lot more people in Oakley than just athletes. I am not against athletes, I obviously played sports, but if we can move towards more aquatic use and camping type use. I think it would be great, but again, don’t load it up with too much stuff because it would make it not as attractive and not as a quality park in my mind,’ stated Meadows.
Councilmember George Fuller stated he agreed that there are too many items in the current plan and should reduced because he didn’t see it becoming a recreation area. He called the water access as being very important because there is not much access unless someone has a boat.
Councilmember Hugh Henderson said he would support the idea of working on the water access.
“Its truthfully probably are only piece of property we have that is city owned that we could do something with the waterway,” stated Henderson. “As you explore the camping component, I think you can look at what other agencies are doing such as the East Bay Regional Park District and whether we do overnight camping or its more of a day use ability, I think it would be a missed opportunity if we don’t explore that access to the water. I think it would get a lot more use than people believe right now.”
Councilmember Shannon Shaw asked for clarification on the camping as to whether it is boy scout camping or RV camping which McMurray said it could be a mixture of both—he envisions something like East Bay Regional Park which is much different than going to an RV resort.
Shaw said she was not a fan of the RV style camping at this location.
“The 2019 plan, like everyone else, I think its too many things and if we are going to do something, we need to do a few things but do them really great,” said Shaw. “I was completely against this when it first got put out but I’ve changed and I am open.”
Shaw was concerned about the cost in researching duel concepts while also coming up against the community wants this new concept only to be told they could not change the MOU for motorized boats on the waterways and they are not an option.
“I would love to research the ballfields, I prefer four and research this option. I don’t want to spend a lot of money doing this but I also don’t want to stop the progress here and find out its not even viable,” said Shaw. “Another thing that has been brought up is food trucks on the water, that is something we could explore as a different use.”
She also expressed concern for costs around ballfields versus fishing tournament and the costs versus income. If they were going to take away the ballfields, they need to replace it with something youth friendly.
Both Williams and Shaw pointed out that these are both concepts and even though there may be support to look at it, between the MOU and CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) it may not even be feasible.
“People need to understand this might be a great concept, but there may roadblocks or absolute stops, and I want to make sure that is presented in July,” said Shaw.
Next Steps:
The Oakley Regional Park Master Plan Community Meeting #2 originally scheduled for June 7th was postponed. The new meeting date will be held at a date not yet set in July.
History:
- Nov 20, 2022 – Oakley Councilman Suggests Affordable Housing in Place of 55-Acre Park
- Sept 13, 2021 – City of Oakley to Hold Work Session for Possible Polo Field at 55-Acre Park
- June 25, 2019 – Oakley Seeks Input on What the Name of $50 Million Park Should Be
- Dec 30, 2018 – Oakley Set to Discuss $50 Million Community Park Project
3 comments
A more diverse and family-friendly design would be good. I question whether Oakley needs so many more ballfields.
A waterfront actually sounds like a splendid idea. This area is known to be a great area to go fishing, boating, and other aquatic activities. That can attract more people to visit. I will agree with Robert C’s comment on a diverse design. Adding a ride like a ferris wheel or carosel would be awesome in my opinion. I would also like an area of Oakley (which could be this park) to be used as an area to stargaze. As Oakley has been highly developed, there have been more streetlights, thus more light pollution. Having one area of the city with no light pollution would be wonderful.
I disagree with Anissa Williams, who said that Oakley needs to add more activities specifically for youth. I feel like Oakley has many activities that are specifically for youth. What I feel Oakley doesn’t have enough of are activities for adults. As an adult who doesn’t plan on having children, it would be nice if there was more activities for my demographic in this city.
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