Lake Chabot Road Quarry Project Contested
photo credit: Anne Cawood
Lake Chabot Road, which would be used by many dump trucks if the quarry project goes through, is currently closed for rain damage which has also destabilized hillsides.
The East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) is replacing many older sewage pipes throughout Alameda and Contra Costa County.
Reaching that goal involves the utility company sending 60 to 100 full dump trucks a day for 40 years down narrow and curvy Lake Chabot Road between Castro Valley and San Leandro near the Bay-O-Vista neighborhood, according to EBMUD.
That's got some people riled up enough to launch an online petition called "Save Lake Chabot Road." The group wants EBMUD to put the dirt somewhere else. They say truck volume, project duration, and concerns about hillside stability are more than what the two-lane road can handle.
"The road can't possibly sustain that sort of truck traffic," said Kat Wellman of the Save Lake Chabot Road group. "It would make the road totally unsafe, especially for bicyclists."
Wellman added that there's barely enough room for a car to safely pass a bicycle, given how many curves there are. It's even tighter when there is also an oncoming car, she said, never mind a truck.
She is urging residents in Bay-O-Vista and throughout San Leandro, Castro Valley, and nearby Oakland, as well as Lake Chabot Park users, to sign a petition opposing the project (https://savelakechabotroad.com).
EBMUD spokesperson Mona Favorite-Hill said Lake Chabot is built to handle trucks of that weight and that other possible sites had been looked at but fell short. She said that sending vehicles to one central location, near public highways, was less disruptive to neighborhoods than sending dump trucks through multiple residential neighborhoods.
"We do look for people who can use the soil before we store it, but this only gets you so far," she said. "We are very concerned about the impact on residents. We're trying to do what's best."
Even if EBMUD wanted to start dumping soil at the site tomorrow, traffic is not permitted on Lake Chabot Road between Fairmont Drive and Astor Drive. The last several weeks of rain have damaged the road and the hillside. Repairs are expected to take a month or more. EBMUD's Favorite-Hill said the hillside would need to be stabilized and the road would need to be reassessed for its capacity after repairs.
According to its plan, EBMUD will fill an unused quarry on county land east of Bay-O-Vista with dirt excavated when the pipes are replaced. They are replacing about 20 miles of pipes a year now throughout Alameda and Contra Costa counties but hope to step that up to 40 miles a year by 2024.
EBMUD insists the project will be safe and is even adding a park in the Bay-O-Vista neighborhood with walking trails.However, adding the park would most likely happen in 10 to 20 years, Project Manager Chien Wang told a questioner at a February 2022 public meeting.
Tapes of EBMUD's past public meetings are available on their website at www.ebmud.com, which has a page devoted to the Quarry Site Restoration Project.
EBMUD representatives are expected to attend San Leandro City Council's Facilities and Transportation Committee on February 1 to discuss the project.