MAC Mulls Central Business District Vision
What will Castro Valley’s “Central Business District” look like in the years to come? The Castro Valley Municipal Advisory Council (MAC) heard an update on the Castro Valley General Plan with a focus on the downtown area at their Monday night meeting.
The general plan, drafted in 2012, establishes a new vision for the next 20 years and we are currently in Phase 2. The 330 + page general plan document is available to read at: acgov.org/cda/planning/generalplans.
The previous central business update was drafted way back in 1993, and while the physical parameters as defined in the central business area are largely the same, retail had transformed considerably in the past 30 years. The old plan tried to predict things like the BART station’s impact on retail centers and how much office space is needed in town. The document also amusingly touches on some classic Castro Valley conundrums- namely the overabundance of fast-food joints on the Boulevard
“Many people in the community feel that Castro Valley is known pejoratively as ‘the Fast-Food Capital of the World’” reads the 1993 document. “Yet outlets in the community appear to thrive. Since many of the same outlets are duplicated in surrounding communities…. It is unlikely that people are coming from outside the community to patronize outlets in the community. Thus, it would seem that while many people are opposed to fast food outlets, there are enough who are not opposed to them to support them through their patronage.”
There is also the standard grumbling about the number of convenience and liquor stores, so not much has changed in the past three decades.
As far as the future of the central business district, Monday’s meeting was an introduction. Moving forward on this lengthy project, there will be a series of upcoming meetings on the matter. The MAC’s goal is to help guide the county’s planning division in creating a new document that will attempt to predict retail and land-use developments- not to mention fast food trends.