The Oakley City Council officially greenlit negotiations between city staff and local businessman Steve Smith last week to draft a development agreement outlining the specifics of the city center project.
The city will have two representatives — City Planner Stephanie Woolstenhulme and City Attorney Lisa Baskin — meet with Smith and the development company to determine how the city will transfer or sell property as part of the project. Smith, who already owns a few parcels in the town center area, will need to purchase land from the city to bring his vision to fruition.
The City Council plans to receive regular updates from Woolstenhulme and Baskin about the negotiations to provide input on the proceedings. Once the development agreement is drafted, it will go before the Oakley City Planning Commission for a public hearing and recommendation before going to the City Council for a final vote.
Baskin repeatedly emphasized that the City Council is not locked into approving the first draft of the development agreement and will have the opportunity to make revisions and negotiate further until the document satisfies both the city and the development company. The process is predicted to take at least a few months, with no firm estimate on when the City Council should expect to see the first draft.
Smith revised his master plan for the Oakley core twice in September based on community feedback that the project had become too large and would detract from the area’s small-town feel.
The previous design, which he presented to the Planning Commission in August, had a convenience store, car wash and gas station with 16 pumps on the west side of S.R. 32, as well as a diner, grocery store, post office, town hall, food bank and retail spaces on the opposite side. The blueprints additionally outlined apartment buildings and a series of parking lots with more than 400 total spaces.
However, the plan has since been downsized. The most recent design shown to the Planning Commission earlier this month included efforts to prioritize green space and ease concerns about traffic flow.
The North Block, which is sandwiched between Weber Canyon Road and Center Street, now has the Oakley Diner on the northwest corner and two retail spaces along Weber Canyon Road, with one marked as a mixed-use building that could accommodate apartments on the top floor.
Meanwhile, the new post office facilities would be on S.R. 32, and the town hall, a hardware store and Ken’s Kash Market would be situated along Center Street. On the corner of S.R. 32 and Center Street, there is space for a food pantry and Amazon storage lockers.
On the southern side of Center Street, the site design shows three more mixed-use retail and apartment buildings with a park and pavilion on the corner of S.R. 32. A building solely dedicated to apartments is slightly to the west of Cattlemen’s Hall, and a convenience store with eight gas pumps and a car wash occupies most of the northwest corner of the block.