CV MAC Pushes Back on Housing Plan
The Castro Valley Municipal Advisory Council (MAC) voted 6-0 to whole-heartedly reject a county plan to expand the housing element of the Alameda County General Plan at its meeting last week, but state mandates might leave its hands tied.
Last Tuesday, the MAC heard Liz McElligott, the county's assistant planning director, give the latest in a series of housing updates. State law requires each local jurisdiction to revise its Housing Element every eight years. The document is a road map for current and projected housing needs and site inventories.
As is true throughout the Bay Area, higher-density and more affordable housing is needed. Castro Valley’s population jumped from 60,625 in 2010 to 66,441 in the 2020 Census. County officials estimate 4,700 new housing units are needed in Castro Valley in the upcoming cycle through 2031, more than twice the 1,800 units in the previous 2015-2022 cycle. According to the county plan, a quarter of those spaces (1,250) would be required to be available for very low-income households.
Even though the MAC voted 6-0 (with Chair Chuck Moore absent) to recommend the Board of Supervisors reject the plan as it is, that recommendation doesn’t dictate the Board’s actions.
As at previous meetings, the MAC was critical of the plan's practicality. Is the appropriate infrastructure in place, such as traffic plans, parking, or classroom space for new residents? Another MAC concern is that potential developers have not submitted solid proposals to build new homes. McElligott said builders are interested in the area, but there are no definite plans for a specific development.
Several residents took to the public speaking portion of the evening to decry the housing element, particularly the state’s interference with Castro Valley.
“I’m very angry about this,” said speaker Cathy Langley. “Build houses where houses make sense. The state shouldn’t have eminent domain. This is a developers’ dream to take over our land.”
Speaker (and former MAC member) Matt Turner acknowledged the possibility for developers to “buy out” the ostensibly required low-income element and find a way to offer only higher-priced housing, adding that he felt the entire idea was essentially futile.
“The real disaster is that this wouldn’t even make a dent in housing availability,” said Turner. He posited that international investors would buy up any stock they can, pricing out the average person.
A copy of the full housing element plan is available at www.acgov.org/cda/planning/housing-element/housing-element. The matter will be before the Board of Supervisors at an upcoming date.
The MAC also heard an update on the Castro Valley Central Business District Specific Plan, a massive ongoing project that maps out the various uses for an area that covers approximately 290 acres and 765 parcels, including the Central Business District on Castro Valley Boulevard, the Medical Center area on Lake Chabot Road, the BART Transit Village, and the Rite Aid parcel to the east.
The project was divided into two phases. Phase one, completed in late 2021, involved a Community-Wide Zoning and Map Update. Phase two, which includes listening to and refining community recommendations, is scheduled for late 2025.
Kathryn Slama, Director of Lisa Wise Consulting, reviewed current feedback, including reducing the Boulevard to two-lane traffic, increasing pedestrian and bike traffic, and supporting mixed-use buildings that put housing on top of businesses.
During this process, the MAC has continually said that the public must balance a wish list of amenities with the realities of space constraints, funding, the economic future, and sustainability.
For more information on the plan, visit www.cvgpimplementation.com
Also, at last week’s meeting, the MAC delayed discussion about the proposed Splash Brothers Car Wash at the current lumberyard site at 2495 Castro Valley Boulevard to a future meeting.