Fire Department OK’d for Use of Former CVSan Property
The Alameda County Fire Department has been given the green light by the Castro Valley Municipal Advisory Council (MAC) to use a vacant civic property as a temporary station on the east end of Castro Valley Boulevard.
The fire department wants to use the former Castro Valley Sanitary District property at 21022 Marshall Street as the temporary location of Station 25 while the current station is razed and rebuilt as part of Measure X upgrades.
Measure X is a 2020 $90 million, 30-year general obligation bond for repairing and replacing out-of-date fire stations and equipment. Assessed at 1.6 cents per $100,000 of assessed home value, it costs the average Alameda County homeowner about $142 a year.
Station 25 was initially built in 1966 at 20336 San Miguel Avenue.
The proposed replacement Station 25 will be a 10,000-square-foot and two-stories with housing on the top floor and fitness, locker room, and office space on the first floor.
While all that construction takes place, the fire department would occupy the disused CVSan building. Construction is estimated for next March and the next step would be a formal application from ACFD.
The main change to the existing Marshall property will be the construction of a fire engine garage with a 15-foot setback, which would require a variance from the allowed 20-setback currently permitted. They also plan to retrofit the building for a dormitory to sleep nine, a kitchen, and locker room.
The ACFD does not anticipate that moving Station 25 would impact their response times, but may slightly shift their service area so that some calls are sent to another station.
As far as noise and sirens go, the said they probably won’t have to engage them until they hit Castro Valley Boulevard, so they are unlikely to disturb the neighbors. Washing and fueling of trucks and other equipment would have to take place offsite at another station.
It’s estimated that the CV San building will house Station 25 for 18 to 24 months, at which time, they plan on removing any adjustments made and returning it to its current state. CV San has not said what they plan on doing with the property in the longer term.
In other MAC news from this week’s meeting, the board elected a new Chair and Vice Chair, which they do for one-year terms each year.
The MAC Chair leads meetings, helps set agendas, and is the board’s primary point of contact with County staff. The Vice Chair steps into those duties when the Chair is unavailable,
This year, there was a “switcheroo,” as current Chair Bill Mulgrew nominated current Vice Chair Chuck Moore to be Chair and then moments later, Moore nominated Mulgrew to be Vice Chair. Both were voted into those positions by their MAC colleagues unanimously.