Oakland planning board recommends Turnpike Commerce Park with variances for 160,160‑sq‑ft industrial complex

On April 20, 2026, the Town of Oakland Planning and Zoning Board voted to recommend approval of the Turnpike Commerce Park design review and associated variances to the town commission. The proposal covers a roughly 13.8‑acre parcel at 16360 West Colonial Drive and would add four single‑story industrial flex buildings totaling about 160,160 square feet.

Taylor Hague, a planner with Wade Trim, told the board that staff finds the proposal “substantially compliant with the town’s land development code” and supportive of the Urban Corridor Design District’s intent to encourage job‑creating uses near major transportation corridors. Hague summarized the deviations the applicant requested, including a landscaped buffer in place of a brick screen wall, a significant reduction in on‑site parking based on ITE standards, larger building floor plates than the code’s 32,000‑square‑foot maximum, and lower fenestration on some elevations.

Developer representative Drew Thigpen of Greenberg Gibbons Properties said the company expects to deliver the project in a single 12‑month phase, at an estimated cost of $34,000,000, and projected it would generate approximately $800,000 a year in new tax revenue. Thigpen described the product as “shallow bay” industrial flex space aimed at service‑based tenants — smaller users who combine a showroom/office frontage with a warehouse bay — and said the buildings are typically leased speculatively to a range of small tenants.

The board’s substantive questions focused on access and traffic, the adequacy of a reduced parking count, drainage and pond construction near the Turnpike, refuse handling, and visual impact from State Road 50 and the Turnpike sound wall. Thigpen said the site can accommodate occasional 18‑wheel deliveries, that final engineering and county review will address fire and circulation requirements, and that additional trash containers would be provided or added by tenants as needed.

Appearance Review Board (ARB) concerns about building fenestration were a pivotal point. ARB member John Gill told the board he understood some elevations to be visible from SR‑50 and urged the board to require 30 percent fenestration on end caps so the elevations do not read as “solid concrete.” The board ultimately required 30 percent fenestration on the north end caps facing SR‑50 and required upper‑story clear windows (as shown in the submitted architectural rendering) on all four buildings facing the Turnpike side.

The board voted, by voice, to approve each of the five variances discussed: landscape buffering in lieu of the wall, the reduced parking standard based on ITE metrics, the 40,040‑square‑foot building floor plate, the proposed building orientation, and the fenestration condition (30 percent on designated faces and added upper‑story windows where required). After those motions, the board made and passed a motion to recommend approval of the overall project to the town commission subject to the variances it adopted.

Hague noted the review tonight was preliminary; final engineering and permitting remain, and Orange County regulations will control final fire access and solid waste/collection specifics. Thigpen said the applicant has secured financing and plans to deliver the project without phasing.

The matter will next go to the Town Commission for final decision; the Planning and Zoning Board’s action is a recommendation to the commission.