OAKLEY — A light industrial business park expected to spawn thousands of jobs will rise from the site of a DuPont chemical plant that closed 30 years ago, leaving manufacturing toxins in its wake.
The City Council unanimously approved the Oakley Logistics Center project a a special meeting this week.
City officials have long envisioned turning the site into a business or light industrial park in hopes it could bring back jobs that were lost decades earlier and breathe new life into the community.
“The property redevelopment has long been a priority of the city,” Oakley Community Development Director Joshua McMurray said.
The 375-acre development site where DuPont opened its plant in 1956 and shuttered in 1998 is located at 6000 Bridgehead Road, just south of Lauritzen Yacht Harbor along the San Joaquin River, north of Main Street and east of Bridgehead Road.
NorthPoint Development plans to construct five buildings totaling 2 million square feet on 144 acres there. The rest of the land would be used for recreational purposes.
Company strategist Jed Momot said the construction itself should generate about 725 jobs and the businesses located there about 1,890 direct jobs and 490 indirect or service jobs.
Construction is expected to begin next year, he said, noting that one building is already leased, though officials did not reveal the tenant, and the second building will be built on speculation. The next three will go up as market conditions dictate.
He said NorthPoint specializes in brownfield developments and considers labor force potential and logistics before deciding where to build.
“We did a heat map, and Oakley is a bright red star on the map,” Momot said. “There is a ton of labor here and users (employers) love that.”
Momot said the property’s proximity to Highway 4 also was a plus, providing access to serve the Bay Area.
The former DuPont plant produced chlorofluorocarbons and lead antiknock compounds for fuels until 1997 when it closed its last major manufacturing line, and for more than a year after that it finished, packaged and shipped titanium dioxide and fluorochemicals.
The site has since remained empty and the state Department of Toxic Substance Control began overseeing removal of contaminants there in 2003. That cleanup was accelerated when NorthPoint pitched in $1 million and could be completed by March, Momot said.
Some residents objected to the accelerated schedule, though, saying the city should take more time to ensure the site is safe and an environmental review is complete.
The council didn’t see a need to wait.
“As the city is starving for higher-paying and quality jobs, we cannot afford to sit on applications because we can,” Councilwoman Claire Alaura said, noting the application has been in the works for one year. “Although we move quickly, we move cautiously.”
Sarah Dudley of Oakley Residents for Responsible Development, a coalition of labor unions, suggested more studies need to be done on potential health and environmental concerns.
“We have reviewed comments on the draft EIR, expert reports and letters, and we have determined that these provide substantial evidence that there are unexplored impacts that were not addressed,” she said. Impacts on the area’s wildlife need to be further explored as well, she added.
“We have worked closely with agencies and they seem comfortable with it (the total project),” replied Diane Moore of Moore Biological Consultants, which studied the project. She noted no environmental resource agencies have spoken against it.
Paul Seger, a Diablo Water District director, said the project “was not the one that I envisioned,” explaining that he had expected high-paying manufacturing jobs rather than warehouse-type jobs.
“However, if you do move forward, I would like to request that 2.5 million square feet of rooftop has solar,” he added.
Nearby marina owner and lifelong East County resident Chris Lauritzen said he’s for the project.
“I grew up in Antioch and I watched all the jobs go away — DuPont, Crown Zellerbach. Wouldn’t it be nice if we have jobs that stayed in Oakley?”
Antioch Mayor Sean Wright concurred.
“This is an opportunity in the region to be able to create 2,000 jobs. Right now those 2,000 jobs are traveling one hour each way,” he said. “That’s 2,000 parents who get to live and work where they live, get to participate in sports, get to eat at our restaurants that struggle because we don’t have a lunch crowd. I am so grateful for the impact that this project brings, not just for Oakley but the entire region.”
Councilman Michael Krieg added that the project review has been a “long and thoughtful process” and this is the best solution.
“I do feel due diligence has been done,” Alaura chimed in. “As it goes through, no doubt there will be eyes and ears watching to make sure that these standards that affect our environment, that affect traffic, that affect wildlife, will be followed and the mitigations recommended will be followed…. And, as this project would affect us economically as a city and a region, I have no doubt that it would only be a positive for our community.”
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December 21, 2019 at 05:56AM
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New East Bay industrial park to spring from site of old DuPont plant - East Bay Times
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