On Wednesday, the City of Oakley participated in a ground breaking ceremony at the Oakley Shops at Laurel Fields which will include Safeway and five retail buildings.
Background:
The project is on an 8.77-acre site in an undeveloped parcel along Laurel Road at O’Hara Avenue. The gravel pad has historically been used as an overflow parking lot for the adjacent Laurel Baseball Fields.
The proposed project would result in the subdivision of an approximately 8.77-acre parcel into two separate parcels: Parcel 1 at 7.72 acres, which would make up a majority of the shopping center (Safeway and retail/restaurant pads); and Parcel 2 at 1.05 acres which would sit at the southwest corner of the site and consist of the gas station and convenience store.
The two proposed drive-through restaurants are sited in the northwest and southeast corners of the site. Both drive-through lanes are adjacent to O’Hara Avenue and Laurel Road, respectively. Access to the drive-through pharmacy is located between the Safeway grocery store and Shop 6 on the west side of grocery store. The gas station is located near the southwest corner with the convenience store fronting Laurel Road and the gasoline pumps just north of the store.
As proposed, the project includes seven separate buildings totaling 81,728 square feet of floor area, five points of vehicular access (two on Laurel Road and three on O’Hara Avenue), 360 parking spaces with up to 73 electric vehicle stations, 19 bike rack spaces and three bike lockers, 122 new trees and hundreds of shrubs and grasses, full frontage improvements along O’Hara Avenue to connect to the existing sidewalk to the north, and completion of frontage improvements along Laurel Road.
According to the staff report, this site was previously approved for a Safeway shopping center in the early 2000’s and that entitlement expired many years ago. Since that time, new ordinances have been adopted that serve to ensure certain commercial uses are designed and operated in ways to make them more compatible with surrounding areas.
Image by City of Oakley
The City of Oakley made it a point that “cheese rock”, the remnant block of concrete painted to resemble a piece of cheese that sits on the site is included as a condition of approval for the project’s landscaping! To date, no one seems to know who painted the cheese and when.
Previous Stories
- July 3 – Oakley Planning Commission Approves Safeway Project
- March 8 – Safeway Officially Submits Plans for Oakley Location
