Illegal Dumping Poses Risk to Lake Chabot
photos by Mike McGuire
Garbage and other debris including appliances illegally dumped down a hillside leading from Lake Chabot Road near Fairmont in Castro Valley into Lake Chabot Regional Park on October 25, 2024.
Dave Rocha is a Castro Valley jazz musician with a national following who loves walking in nature and enjoying the beauty around Lake Chabot near his home.
“I’m an avid hiker,” he said. “I walk all the time in the several parks near the lake, and sometimes I’m using them for practice for mountain hiking.”
However, the lakeside beauty he so loves has again been marred by that well-known bane of East Bay nature lovers… illegal dumping.
Unlike the usual dumping sites along the turnouts on the west side of Lake Chabot Road, Rocha said he discovered several large piles of garbage and debris by milepost 2.05, not far from Fairmont Drive at the Castro Valley end of the road. It includes home appliances, he said. The debris trails lead down into the edge of the park and were apparently dumped from the road above.
Alameda County owns the road, from Fairmont to Astor Drive where a barrier prevents further driving into San Leandro. The East Bay Regional Parks District (EBPRD) manages Lake Chabot Regional Park, part of the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) watershed.
A few months back, Rocha said he contacted East Bay Regional Parks about cleaning up the dumping. He said he was told at the time by a park supervisor that EBRPD was responsible for cleaning up the hillside and would probably need to hire a private company to do so.
The EBRPD supervisor explained that the hillside needed some shoring up after the storm damage of two winters ago, so that a fence or other barrier could be installed to block further dumping, at least of large items, Rocha said. That part would have to be done in cooperation with Alameda County Public Works, the supervisor explained.
After contacting County Supervisor Nate Miley’s office (who has made illegal dumping one of his key concerns), EBRPD, and Public Works the garbage is still there.
Ashley Strasburg, Miley’s aide in his Eden office, confirmed having spoken to Rocha. She said in an email, “... it was confirmed to be East Bay Regional Park District property, and we referred this issue to them.”
EBRPD disagrees that cleaning up the dumping is their responsibility.
“That area is also the jurisdiction of Alameda County,” EBPRD Public Information Specialist Jen Vanya said in an email. “The Park District looks forward to continuing to work with Alameda County to address illegal dumping on Lake Chabot Road.” The extent of that cooperation was not detailed.
“This is the responsibility of EBRPD, as they manage Lake Chabot Park,” said Alameda County Public Works public information officer Leslie Robertson.
She continued. “Dumping that occurs down the hill of Lake Chabot Rd from Fairmont Dr to the San Leandro City limit is either EBMUD or private property. The County does not perform work on private property and responsibility lies with the property owner. The County removes illegally dumped debris that is within the road right-of-way on Lake Chabot Road.”
None of the three agencies contacted last week indicated a trash cleanup was still planned, leaving them at odds with what Rocha understood to be in the works.
“The parks admitted responsibility and said they’d work with county agencies to get it done,” he said. “They do have access there right now to clean up the debris.”
“They need to get it done,” Rocha said.