Charting Castro Valley’s Future

photo by Mike McGuire

Ken Carbone of the Castro Valley MAC, at right, discussing the downtown area's Specific Plan at a  meeting at the Castro Valley Library on Monday, January 29.

A group of Castro Valley residents, business owners, and local officials gathered this past Monday to discuss how to bestplan the community area near downtown but north of Interstate 580 for the next two decades.

About two dozen people showed up at the Castro Valley Library on January 29 for “Charting Our Future: A Guide to the Castro Valley Specific Plan.” The forum was organized by the Castro Valley City, Inc., group, which favors cityhood, but that topic was never brought up for discussion. Members said the issue of governance such as the Specific Plan was indeed an important issue going forward and superseded any campaigning for cityhood. 

“The big battle that’s close to us now is the Specific Plan,” said cityhood advocate Gary Howard.

Every Alameda County community, including unincorporated areas like Castro Valley, has both a General Plan to guide planning in years ahead, and a Specific Plan for parts of the community. While cities like San Leandro and Hayward have their own planning and economic development departments to work on them, unincorporated areas like Castro Valley, Eden Area, and Fairview have theirs prepared and passed by the county officials. 

Castro Valley Municipal Advisory Council (MAC) member Ken Carbone warned that residents should ask for the improvements, amenities, and other features they want in town or risk having it done for them by people from elsewhere in Alameda County.

“Castro Valley’s Specific Plan is 25 years old and badly needs replacement, Carbone said, adding that the ideas established back then might no longer be taken seriously by anyone today. 

For example, the current plan blocked a popular San Leandro florist from moving to Castro Valley near the Burger King on Castro Valley Boulevard because that area had been deemed an “auto district.” 

“Right now, it’s a dangerous document,” Carbone said. “If current zoning allows it, you could build a 10-story building anywhere in town.”

In another scenario, Carbone noted the county could put a planning overlay over all of Castro Valley and, given the state’s push for greater density and to solve that by building more housing, approve very high-density housing throughout town. 

“It’s easy to tell when you look at their early proposals that they’re not from here,” Carbone said. “For instance, one suggestion was to put housing where Eden Medical Center’s parking is now.”

Carbone urged residents, along with business owners and people who work in Castro Valley, to get involved in a series of workshops that the MAC will be holding around different aspects of the Specific Plan. These will be announced as scheduled on MAC’s website at www.acgov.org/bc/cvmac/index.htm. 

“The old Specific Plan should be thrown out, not updated,” added local business developer Craig Semmelmeyer.

“We have lots of ingredients for a bright future as a community, like a central location in the Bay area, a BART station, and good freeway access,” Semmelmeyer said. “What we don’t have is a walkable downtown. 

Other people at the meeting weighed in with things they’d like to see more of in or near downtown, including meeting spaces, public parks, and tech jobs like the ones San Leandro recently brought to the area near its downtown BART station.

Carbone had urged the MAC to slow down the county’s process for approving the Specific Plan to gather more community input. The county had held a community meeting on it months ago and was not planning to hold anymore, he said.

Carbone said the MAC could hold those desired additional meetings instead, with the aim of holding one a month. He urged people to attend and take in the discussion.