YOUR HOMETOWN WEEKLY NEWSPAPER ward Winning News al A pa
Vol. 9, No. 26
Including Surrounding Communities
www.thepress.net
Sign ordinance draws protest by Dave Roberts Staff Writer
Photo by Dave Roberts
This A-frame sign wasn’t providing much publicity when this picture was taken Wednesday morning. A proposed city ordinance would ban such signs except to announce grand openings and charitable events.
Gene Bucholz, whose Hook, Line & Sinker store sells shotguns among other items, verbally unloaded with both barrels on city officials Tuesday night – one of several merchants blasting them for planning to ban most of the A-frame signs merchants put out along Main Street to attract passing motorists. “If I was a business owner wanting to locate a business in Oakley, after listening to this meeting about this sign ordinance, I would get up and walk out. I’d look for a new city,” Bucholz told the council. “You need to learn to give us business owners a little more respect. Oakley has done, from what I’ve seen on the City Council, more to run businesses out of town than they have to try to keep us here.” Bucholz pointed out that he’s done a lot to bring revenue to Oakley by hosting 67 bass fishing tournaments each year, one of which gains national and international attention. “One of the things that has really, really assisted me has been my A-frame sign sitting in front of the CentroMart grocery store right now,” he said. “I have had hundreds, if not a thousand people, come into my business and say, ‘We didn’t know you were here. We saw your sign and thought we would stop.’ This sign ordinance right now is the worst you can put up in the worst economic time we are having right now – especially when there’s other issues in the city of Oakley that need to be see Sign page 34A
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June 26, 2009
THIS WEEK
Divine dream, devilish details
Let our Wedding Planner sweat the small stuff so you can relax on your big day.
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Rumor has it Talk About Town lets you eavesdrop on our insider’s take on the people who make East County tick.
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Courtship successful
Biodiesel plant proposed for DuPont site by Dave Roberts Staff Writer
City officials in Oakley have agreed to help a biodiesel company get government funding to build a processing and storage plant on the DuPont property on Bridgehead Road near the planned River Oaks Crossing shopping center. “It’s been several years dreaming and hoping and planning for something to take place on the DuPont property,” City Manager Bryan Montgomery told the City Council on May 26. “DuPont has been working feverishly to get the land cleared and ready for development. Part of that area is cleared; other areas are imminent.” Bay Area Bio Resources hopes to build a plant that would provide biodiesel feedstock made from materials such as algae, palm oil and jatropha plants, he said. That feedstock would be supplied to other plants that would convert it into fuel for diesel engines. “As you may expect, this is an alternative energy source that
“As you may expect, this is an alternative energy source that has garnered a lot of attention in our green economy.
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Oakley City Manager Brian Montgomery has garnered a lot of attention in our green economy,” said Montgomery. “Discussions have been had (with company officials) of whether or not the city could be a co-applicant or partner in the process, certainly encouraging the economic development that we desire on the property and also helping the environment and these applications. There are millions of dollars available to be spent and invested in Oakley in this very interesting and unique project.” A total of $480 million is available in the Renewable Energy Research and Development Grant Program for this type of project, with a maximum of $50 million going to an applicant. Other grant funding might be available as well. City officials agreed to pay
a consulting company, Platinum Advisors, $5,000 per month for the next six months to assist with the application. Bay Area Bio Resources is depositing those funds into a city account to reimburse the city for the consultant and staff time involved with the application process. The only council member to comment on the proposal was Bruce Connelley, who said, “I understand that this does not obligate the city to necessarily pursue the biodiesel plant, but assists it in getting a mutually beneficial position for the grant process. It’s really just to help the grant process happen.” Montgomery confirmed Connelley’s assessment and said a council meeting would be held
where the public could provide input and the council could consider the pros and cons of the proposal before approving or rejecting it – assuming that Bay Area Bio Resources gets the grant funding that it’s seeking. “This is just to try to find the money to get to that step,” he added. Connelley responded, “Something has to be done and time is of the essence. My concern is this is the first public exposure on the subject, and I really don’t know how the community would feel about it. (It) may be a good thing, may be a bad thing or not so good. I don’t think it’s bad at all. I have studied up quite a bit on biodiesel. I think we ought to make it clear that at this point it’s not obligating the city. But it’s a mutually agreeable thing that we are doing to get that grant money set up, whether the company puts it in Oakley or somewhere else, that’s yet to be determined.” The council voted unanisee Biodiesel page 34A
An East County entrepreneur turned the dream of hosting a pro event into reality.
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INSIDE Business .............................8A Calendar ..........................33A Classifieds ........................25A Cop Logs ..........................15A Entertainment ..................6A Food ................................... 8B Health & Beauty ............... 6B Milestones .......................18A Opinion ...........................14A Sports ...............................21A Talk About Town ..............5A Wedding Planner ............. 1B
FOR MOVIE TIMES SEE PAGE 5A