More retail heading to Oakland

A certified-green soy candle company is hoping to expand into the Oakland market, and the town commission has given the business initial approval.

Liz Jennings and Leah Thompson, who own Collective Kindness at the Plant Street Market in Winter Garden, are looking to open a second location at 4 S. Tubb St. Their plan is to sell candles and other home furnishings, offer coffees and juices on the back porch, host yoga sessions in the garden and rent out the upstairs for meetings. The commission passed the first reading of an ordinance that would change the zoning of the half-acre parcel from RNC-residential neighborhood commercial to C1-commercial.

The site is currently appropriate for retail merchandise use.

The building, constructed in 1860, is the oldest in Oakland and possibly Orange County, Jennings said. It has been a school; the home of Dewey Vick, the town’s first female mayor; and, most recently, a hair salon.

“We’re looking to bring it to its full potential inside and out,” Jennings said. “We will pay homage to the history of Oakland and make it the crown jewel of Oakland.”

Collective Kindness is a mission-based company that gives a percentage of its proceeds to local nonprofit organizations.

Thompson and Jennings would like to be open by February.

BILLBOARDS

Oakland has tried unsuccessfully for many years to eliminate the four advertising billboards along State Road 50 but now has an opportunity to remove two of them.

Public Works Director Mike Parker said both of the billboards on the ABC Companies property conflict with the town’s sewer main.

Outfront Media, the owner of the signs, has offered to remove the one on the east end of ABC and the one just west of Tubb Street if the town will allow the company to improve the existing sign on the west end of ABC. Improvements would convert the 12-foot-high by 24-foot-wide sign to a 10.5- by 36-foot sign and upgrade it to an electronic version with eight different advertisement panels.

Parker said the town would also be allowed to advertise for upcoming Oakland events.

The commission agreed, by consensus, to accept the Outfront Media request. John Campbell, of the media company, said the signs will be down within six months and the electronic sign would be added within the same time period.