City and Unincorporated Town,
Contra Costa County
© McCormack's Guides
Zip Codes: 94548, 94561
A
farm town, Oakley started going suburban about 25 years ago and although it
still has vineyards and miles of farmland at its borders, it is now appropriate
to describe it as suburb of Greater San Francisco. www.mccormacks.com
Population
33,210 and growing. Crime low,
school rankings rising. Many
complaints about commute along Highway 4.
School
rankings, for the most part, middling plus, about the 60th
percentile. Teens move up to Freedom High in the Liberty High School District.
Freedom students are scoring about the 70th percentile, top 30
percent in the state. The rankings indicate that demographically Oakley is
moving into middle-class plus.
Click for regional or detailed map
Knightsen
is a farming hamlet that sits on Oakley’s southeast corner. Knightsen has its
own elementary district with one school, rankings mostly in the 60s. In 2008, this district intends to open
another school to serve new homes from Discovery Bay.
The
Oakley and Knightsen elementary districts are arguing over attendance
boundaries for housing on the east side of Oakley or housing to be annexed to
Oakley.
The
Antioch School District bites off some of north Oakley. This district is
building another elementary school in the Oakley area. www.mccormacks.com
Check
with the local schools to find out which schools your children will attend.
Knightsen
is what East Contra Costa was — orchards and cultivated fields spread for
miles across the Delta. Many people acknowledge that more housing will be built
but they want to preserve some farms.
Up
until 1999, Oakley was an unincorporated town controlled by the county
government. Divided by Highway 4, Oakley, with few exceptions, came across as
sleepy and rundown. If you drive the main street today, the business section
still looks worn out.
But
looks are deceiving and changes are coming.
Unincorporated
towns, as opposed to legal cities, have a hard time taking the initiative in
shaping development. The planning and zoning powers reside with the county and
although Contra Costa County has professional planners, these people wait on
developers to submit plans and then react — a generalization with
exceptions. www.mccormacks.com
In
the 1980s, when developers moved into Oakley, the county processed their plans,
made changes and allowed the construction of master planned subdivisions that
in many ways are indistinguishable from what is found in Antioch and Brentwood.
But
Antioch and Brentwood were much more aggressive in seeking out stores and
businesses — which boost local tax revenues — with the result that
they got a lot and Oakley got little.
In
1999, Oakley voted to incorporate as a legal city, in control of its own
planning, and for the last seven years has been setting up its bureaucracy and
making improvements. Among these are plans to overhaul the downtown, a job that
is not going to happen overnight because typically cities try to retain the
businesses they have while introducing changes.
Oakley
today — a downtown that looks old and needs work surrounded by modern
subdivisions, well maintained, whose residents shop in other towns, mainly
Antioch. Some homes are located almost right on the river.
Near
Lone Tree Way and the Highway 4 Bypass, close to Oakley, Antioch has built a
Wal-Mart, a Home Depot, a Barnes and Noble Bookstore, large supermarkets and
other stores. www.mccormacks.com
When
you buy in Oakley, you in effect “buy” into the towns of the East County. The
homes are located in one town, the shopping and amusements often in another.
Oakley, not completely left, out has opened two new supermarkets and small
stores.
New
developments priced for the middle class often bring in many young families,
many playmates. The schools are new and built to modern standards and parents
like this.
Several
schools have been built in recent years. In 2004, Oakley approved a $16.5
million bond to build two more elementary schools. One was opened in 2006,
another will be open in 2007. See Schools.
As
more homes are built, the elementary district plans to erect seven schools.
Two
of the elementary schools are running on a “year-round” schedule. The remaining
schools and the high school take two months off in summer and three two-week
breaks during school year. www.mccormacks.com
County
chipped in $345,000 to upgrade the library at Freedom High School and open it
for community use.
Some
tracts are right on Delta. Fishing, boating, water sports. Wine festival.
Almond Festival. Holy Ghost Festival. Quick ride up to the Sierra. The town has
several ball fields, located at the schools, and a small library in the old
town. Homeowners pay a tax of about $30 a year for parks and recreation. YMCA
club-activities center. Marina.
City
contracts with sheriff's office for protection. Zero homicides in 2005, 2004,
2003, one in 2002, zero in 2001. In 2006, a 14-year-girl was murdered. Police
arrested a boy, age 17, whom the court later found to be mentally incompetent
to stand trial. See Crime.
The
state tally in 2008 showed 10,476 residential units: 9,727 single homes, 84
single attached, 244 apartments, 421 mobiles. Oakley plans to build about 1,300
housing units along Cypress Road.
BART
station near Pittsburg helps ease the commute but Highway 4 is often congested.
And so are the local streets. www.mccormacks.com
Vasco
Road to Livermore and Interstate 580 has been much improved. New money will
accelerate the widening of Highway 4 but this job will take years.
Chamber
of commerce (925) 625-1035.
•
If you are shopping for homes in Oakley, visit the other communities and drive
the outskirts toward Bethel Island. Many maps are out of date and don’t show
new tracts.
Keep
in mind that the farm land that charms the eye may be covered with tracts in 10
years. For more information on what’s coming, contact city hall.
•
The Burlington-Northern runs its trains along the east side of Oakley, the
Union Pacific on the west side. Check out the noise. The cities are working
with the Union Pacific to provide commute trains to the BART station at
Pittsburg. www.mccormacks.com
•
Oakley sponsors fishing tournaments that draw many. The town is promoting itself as a great destination for the
fishing crowd.
• Many homes in East Contra Costa are seeing their values erode because of the mess in sub prime loans. For housing shoppers, many units on market, owners willing to bargain.
City
web site: www.ci.oakley.ca.us
