There will soon be no excuses for flabby Oakleyites who want to get in shape. A 58,000-square-foot Spare Time Sports Club is coming to the southeast corner of Empire Avenue and Neroly Road.

The club will boast 17 tennis courts, multiple pools and spas and a two-floor gym that includes a basketball court and children's areas. Two of the tennis courts will be covered with a tent so that players can use the facilities during bad weather. The large number of tennis courts will allow for simultaneous amateur play, league competition and lessons.

"We're very excited about this project," Larry Gilzean, Spare Time's director of development, told the Oakley Planning Commission Monday night. "We believe we're going to be bringing an outstanding family recreational facility and commercial center to the city of Oakley, and it will be an outstanding project for the community."

"It offers something that we really don't have," said Ken Strelo, Oakley's senior planner. "We have the high school (Freedom), where people often go play tennis, but we're offering more outdoor courts and there's a lot of aquatics available."

Strelo said that the sports club, which could break ground this fall, would be the main tenant for a shopping center at that location.

"This will provide a secure anchor tenant so that we can get some retail" around it, Strelo said. "It's going to be there for a while and it will be an anchor for a shopping center. And with that in mind, we know there are going to be some folks coming to the fitness club. Ultimately, it would be able to bring in some business."

The planning commission gave the thumbs up to the Spare Time Sports Club, but the planners still want to go over some color and material details.

The facility's theme will be nautical, in accordance with the city's design guidelines. In the center of the proposed club will stand a tower with a large flagpole akin to a ship's mast.

"The tower elements will be our main focus," said Tim Mattheis, one of the lead architects from WMB Architects. "We want to have it look like a ship's mast, with the four flags."

Mattheis proposed to the commission to have four flags on the pole: United States, California, Oakley and a Spare Time flag. The commissioners, who were split on the decision, are still reviewing this element of the design.

For more information visit www.sparetimeclubs.com or contact Strelo at 625-7036.