Oakland amends office park agreement

Representatives for the Oakland Exchange Office Complex appeared before the Oakland Town Commission Nov. 12 to request changes to the developer’s agreement. The owner, RaceTrac Inc., wants to build 12 office buildings behind the existing RaceTrac.

The request was to change the site layout and building development standards, vacate a five-foot internal utility easement/landscape buffer between Lots 5 and 6, construct a 42-square-foot monument sign instead of the required maximum of 32 square feet, maintain a five-foot-wide sidewalk, and increase the maximum allowed office space from 30,000 square feet to 37,184.

Sarah Mastison, town planner presented the proposal, which included information pertaining to infrastructure. The project will connect to the town’s potable water and sewer. A traffic study from earlier this year also was submitted and approved by the town’s contracted engineer, who said the project traffic would be less than 2% of the existing traffic.

The agreement requires the developer to keep at least 18 of the existing trees on the property.

The developer requested the site layout so it can build one-story buildings — instead of the two- and three-story structures previously requested — so the complex would be more compatible with the surrounding neighborhood, Mastison said.

“We wanted it to be residential in character as it transitions between commercial with the gas stations and the homes behind,” said Jimmy Crawford, the attorney representing developer JW2 LLC. “We wanted to have less impact on the neighborhood.”

Commissioner Joseph McMullen questioned the traffic study and wanted additional information.

“I will tell you it’s a mess, around 7:20 (a.m.) … when I’m trying to go out to the cleaners, grocery store, I try to do that in the morning, and it’s hard to get out,” he said. “We really need to look at this … and you’ve got kids standing there (waiting) for the bus. … It’s the volume. … Adding 12 businesses, I can’t imagine how 12 business is going to be added to that.”

Crawford said the offices shouldn’t produce a high volume of traffic.

“We think the better design, less impact on the community, more than outweighs the traffic,” he said.

“I want the area to developed; I really, really do,” Commissioner Sal Ramos said. “But … it’s really hard to get out.”

Crawford said he will request his traffic surveyer to attend the Dec. 10 Town Commission meeting.

The commission voted in favor of the amendment ordinance, which included the Planning & Zoning Board’s conditions of enhanced dumpster screening and denial of the increase in size for the monument sign.

Once the two lots are replatted, the project will go before the Appearance Review Board with the proposed building design, followed by appearances at the P&Z and Town Commission meetings.

TREE CITY USA

The town now has received the Tree City USA Award 21 years in a row. A report to the commission outlined the town’s status:

“Due to the trees being planted by developers in the new neighborhoods and a renewed emphasis on tree planting along rights-of-way and in publicly owned spaces, our per-capita expenditure has once remained very high.

“In 2014, the value placed on this standard was a mere $5.45," the report states. "By 2018, due to construction of Oakland Trails, it had jumped to $65.87. For three years in a row — 2021, 2022 and 2023 — it was slightly less than $70 per capita. This equated to approximately $300,000 spent in total on new trees and tree-related activities during each of these three years.

“For 2024, the per capita value placed on tree planting and maintenance activities was $32.13. The decrease this year was mostly due to a reduction in development activity.”

IN OTHER NEWS:

• The Oakland Town Commission appointed Jonathan R. Baucom to the Appearance Review Board as an alternate member; as well as Jay Russell as a regular member and Ed Kulakowski as an alternate member on the Planning & Zoning Board.

• Commissioners passed a resolution that amends the defined contribution retirement plan for Oakland’s police officers. In the Fiscal Year 2024-25 budget, an increase to the town contribution from 14% to 16% for full-time officers had been approved, so the resolution was necessary.

• Norine Dworkin, editor-in-chief of VoxPopuli, confronted Commissioner Sal Ramos regarding his business’ contributions to the political campaign of Austin Arthur, who unsuccessfully ran for the District 1 seat on the Orange County Board of County Commissioners. Ramos’ company, Empire Finish Systems, donated $1,000 to the campaign in July and another $1,000 in August. According to state law, individual donations cannot exceed $1,000.

Dworkin asked Ramos to explain how this happened. He responded, “No comment,” but he did say the Arthur campaign returned the second $1,000 donation earlier this month.

• In his town manager’s report, Andy Stewart said residents have been complaining about the cellular carrier coverage and town staff is working on a solution.

• Finance Director Gaby Leon provided end-of-the-year figures for the town’s three funds and included numbers reflecting state- and town-generated revenues, compensation, operating expenses, and other expenses associated with each department. A budget amendment is not needed because the General, Enterprise and Impact Fee funds did not exceed approved budgeted expenditures.

The General Fund is left with about $800,000 in reserves. Leon said $200,000 of that will be used to fund the General Fund for Fiscal Year 2024-25. She and Stewart are working on investing some of the town’s reserves to increase revenue for the upcoming fiscal year.