Downtown Castro Valley: Big or Small?
Should Castro Valley’s business district go big or stay small? Last Wednesday, more than 50 people crammed into a meeting room at the library to debate the issue and begin to narrow down the amenities and features they want to define the middle of town.
“I encourage people to think about our children and families,” said resident Silvia Lambert. “We’re not going to compete for business with cities like Oakland or Berkeley because we are a bedroom community. But we can create something special here… a place where parents want to settle down and raise families.”
The business district covers 290 acres and is comprised of 765 parcels. It includes both sides of Castro Valley Boulevard from the so-called “Hamburger Island” on Stanton Avenue to Center Street, Eden Medical Center to the north, and Castro Valley BART to the south.
The Alameda County Community Development Agency (CDA) hosted the event. The overall objective is to implement the 2012 Castro Valley General Plan, which provides guidelines for smart growth patterns, preferences, and socio-economic sustainability.
“This is the skeleton and the structure for land, use, and design, which we will combine with your feedback to help shape the preferred plan along with the vision and goals of the downtown plan,” said Kathryn Slama, director of Lisa Wise Consulting (LWC), the lead consultancy on the project along with representatives from planning agencies from Raimai + Associates and TJKM.
This was the second community workshop where the public was asked to add their thoughts on what they would like to see. The first workshop was in May 2023, followed by an October presentation to the Castro Valley Municipal Advisory Council (MAC).
Attendees cycled through four stations that focused on how to interpret Land Use, Mobility, Opportunity Sites, and Creating a Downtown.
Much of the room's discussion centered on getting people into and out of the area without too much congestion, encouraging them to walk or ride a bike, and providing multiple public meeting spaces. Since the last workshop, more people have commented on the lack of downtown parking, the possibility of narrowing the Boulevard into a two-lane road, and the encouragement of more local entrepreneurship.
“Small businesses are still hurting in our community. If we don’t support small businesses with this plan, all that will be left will be big businesses,” said resident Stacy Poulos.
Attendees also expressed opportunities to develop the western part of Castro Valley Boulevard between Stanton Avenue and San Miguel to include more housing, shops, and green space.
“Castro Valley can be as large as you want it. Anything is possible,” said Chamber president and CEO Gary Slate. “Cupertino is half the size of Castro Valley when Apple Computer started its business there.”
With public input from two sessions in hand, Slama said the consultants will now assemble a Preferred Plan and Policy Framework that the MAC will review three times by March 2025. A Review Draft and Environmental Impact Report (EIR) are expected to be made public by June 2025, with another public input workshop planned for the summer of 2025. The MAC is expected to review all revisions twice and hold a few public hearings before the end of 2025 before the county issues the final plan in early 2026.
The project documents, which include explanations, presentations, and maps, can be found on the website:https://www.cvgpimplementation.com/