MAC Meeting: Routine Land Use Matters
The Castro Valley Municipal Advisory Council (MAC) approved some fairly routine land use matters at their meeting Monday night.
There were just enough MAC members in attendance for a quorum- with four out of seven members present- Chair Chuck Moore, Vice Chair Bill Mulgrew, member Ilya Prokopoff and member Tojo Thomas were at the meeting and members Raymond Davis, Shannon Killebrew, and Xochiyotl Martinez were absent.
The MAC approved a change to a land use declaration for a property at 6855 Villareal Drive. The property will switch designations from “open space/ parks” to “public facilities” in the zoning code.
The property in question is Alameda County Fire Department Fire Station 7, which is about to be rebuilt as part of Measure X.
Measure X is the$90 million bond passed by voters in 2020- a 30-year general obligation bond for repairing and replacing out-of-date fire stations and equipment.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 7 is proposed to be completely rebuilt adjacent to the current facility on an empty plot of land at 6855 Villarreal Drive. The new building will be one story tall and act as a replacement for the existing facility, which was originally constructed in 1986. Groundbreaking and construction is planned for next year.
The MAC also unanimously approved an application for a conditional use permit which will allow the continued operation of the “Dance Live Dream” dance studio on the 19000 block of Center Street. The studio offers a variety of dance classes for children and adults. There were some concerns about parking issues and people using the property as a turnaround for cars, but dance studio director Monica Dominguez said she’s emailed warnings to parents.
Finally, they approved a modification of a tentative parcel map to add a new driveway to the front parcel of the property at 4770 Heyer Avenue. Previously, the property was planned to have a shared driveway off of the rear lot.