Commercial Real Estate in Crockett: Pomona Street, the C&H Waterfront and County Rules

By Matthew Martinez, Founder, CEO & Managing Broker, Diamond Real Estate Group. California DRE #01869679.

Crockett is an unincorporated town on the Carquinez Strait at the north end of Contra Costa County, built around the C&H Sugar refinery. Its commercial real estate is the small historic downtown on Pomona Street and Loring Avenue, with storefronts, restaurants and bars, mixed-use buildings with apartments upstairs, and the industrial waterfront tied to the refinery and the rail line. The town is hemmed in by water, steep hills and parkland, so very little new commercial land will ever exist. Every deal turns on county zoning, sewer district service and fire rules. Confirm all three for the parcel.

Who controls the parcel

Crockett has no city government. Contra Costa County’s Department of Conservation and Development applies county zoning under Division 84. Local services come from special districts:

Crockett Community Services District (CCSD). It runs sewer service through its Crockett Sanitary Department, as well as recreation and town maintenance. Its history page says the Crockett-Valona Sanitary District was formed in 1953 and dissolved in 2006, when CCSD became the successor agency. The sanitary service area now covers every building and property in Crockett except the Crockett Striped Bass Club.
Crockett-Carquinez Fire Protection District. It shares county fire-hazard rules with the county fire district (below). Contra Costa LAFCO’s roster lists it as a dependent fire district.
Regional Water Quality Control Board. It permits the shared treatment plant’s discharge to the strait.

Port Costa, a few miles east, is a separate community with its own sanitary department under CCSD.

Crockett zoning for commercial, industrial and mixed use

We did not confirm the district on each downtown parcel. Read the county zoning map. The county districts that commonly apply to a town like Crockett are below, and their standards are on our Contra Costa County commercial page.

District	Intended uses	Notes
N-B Neighborhood Business	Groceries, drugstores, bakeries, barbers, offices	3+ unit apartments need a land use permit
R-B Retail Business	Retail in enclosed buildings, hotels and motels	Outdoor retail and cannabis need a land use permit
C General Commercial	Wholesale, warehouses, auto repair, contractor yards	Hotels need a land use permit
Heavy industrial (H-I, W-3)	Heavy industry	Countywide districts. We did not confirm the refinery’s district
P-1 Planned Unit	Uses set by a final development plan	Used for hillside subdivisions, such as the 2015 Rolph Park approval
R-6 Single-Family	Homes and ADUs	Much of the residential hillside

The county used P-1 in a 2015 Crockett approval recorded on CEQAnet. For an 8.05-acre vacant parcel at Pomona Street and Rolph Park Drive, the county rezoned from R-6 to P-1, amended the general plan from Open Space to Single-Family Residential on 2.35 acres, and approved a nine-lot subdivision with a final development plan. That shows how hillside land changes use here: through a combined general plan amendment, rezoning and development plan.

The C&H waterfront and downtown

Refinery and treatment plant. The C&H Sugar refinery anchors Crockett’s industrial waterfront. An August 2026 notice on CEQAnet records the Regional Water Quality Control Board’s reissued NPDES permit for:

treated wastewater from the joint-use Philip F. Meads treatment plant, operated by C&H and CCSD, at up to 0.85 million gallons per day average dry-weather flow;
refinery stormwater;
up to 35 million gallons per day of refinery cooling water discharged to the Carquinez Strait.

CCSD’s history notes that C&H built the secondary plant in 1972 with the sanitary district as co-owner, and that the district has used the joint plant under contract with C&H since 1979. Any business that discharges significant wastewater depends on that shared plant.

Downtown. Pomona Street and Loring Avenue hold Crockett’s storefronts. CCSD’s property page says the district maintains the downtown plaza, the town’s decorative green street lights, green iron fences along Pomona and Rolph, and Crockett Memorial Hall. It also owns the Community Center, pool and Alexander Park at Rolph Avenue and Pomona Street. Many downtown buildings are older mixed-use structures with apartments above shops.

Fire, growth limits and other local rules

Fire-safe sale rule. Under Chapter 84-90 (Ordinance 2023-07), properties in the Crockett-Carquinez and county fire districts must keep defensible space in three zones out to 100 feet, clear vegetation 10 feet from access roads and maintain fuel breaks by June 1 each year. Before escrow closes, the seller must provide documentation from the fire code official that the property meets fuel mitigation requirements. Unpaid abatement costs can be assessed on the tax bill.
Limited growth. CCSD says that because Crockett is bounded by the strait, difficult terrain and East Bay Regional Park District land, it expects only limited infill and no sewer plant expansion.
Sewer fees. CCSD held a July 2025 hearing on fiscal 2025-26 sewer use fee increases for Crockett and Port Costa. Ask for the current charge for any commercial use.
Cannabis. Crockett is not one of the nine areas in the county’s cannabis exclusion district. County cannabis permits still require a land use permit in commercial districts.

Transfer tax, business tax and property tax

The Contra Costa Clerk-Recorder charges the county documentary transfer tax of $0.55 per $500. Crockett is unincorporated, so no city transfer tax applies. A sale is generally a Proposition 13 change of ownership. We did not verify a county business license requirement.

Due diligence that matters in Crockett

Start with our commercial due diligence checklist, then add:

Pull the county zoning and General Plan designations, and any P-1 development plan.
Get the fire code official’s fuel mitigation compliance document before closing.
Confirm CCSD sewer service, capacity and the current sewer use charge.
For older downtown buildings, review seismic condition, permits for upstairs units, and accessibility.
Check rail, refinery and shoreline easements on waterfront parcels.
For food or industrial users, confirm wastewater pretreatment requirements.

Questions people ask

Who regulates land use in Crockett?

Contra Costa County. Crockett is unincorporated, and CCSD provides sewer and recreation services.

Who treats Crockett’s sewage?

The joint-use Philip F. Meads treatment plant, operated by C&H Sugar and the Crockett Community Services District.

Do I need fire clearance to sell a Crockett property?

Yes. County Chapter 84-90 requires the seller to give documentation of fuel mitigation compliance from the fire code official before escrow closes.

Can Crockett add more commercial land?

Very little. CCSD notes the strait, terrain and regional parkland limit Crockett to infill.

How has hillside land been rezoned in Crockett?

In the 2015 Rolph Park approval, the county combined a general plan amendment, a rezoning from R-6 to P-1 and a final development plan.

Is there a city transfer tax?

No. Only the county tax of $0.55 per $500 applies.

Does Diamond handle commercial property in Crockett?

Contact Matthew Martinez to discuss buying, selling or leasing commercial property in Crockett.

Sources & notes

Note: The zoning districts on downtown Pomona Street parcels and the refinery site were not confirmed on the county map. Sewer use charge amounts were not verified.

This page is general information, not legal or tax advice. Last reviewed October 2026 by Matthew Martinez.

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