Alameda County planning staff outlines multiyear projects, pledges Castro Valley specific plan work next fiscal year

Alameda County planning staff delivered a year‑ahead briefing Jan. 6 outlining major land‑use and implementation efforts the department will bring to the Board of Supervisors over 2015 and beyond.

Albert, a senior Planning Department official, told the board the county’s general plan is divided among three area plans — East County, the Eden area and Castro Valley — and listed a string of active and planned projects, including an update to the Ashland‑Cherryland Business District specific plan funded in part by a Metropolitan Transportation Commission grant of about $400,000. "We are in the middle of a grant that we received from MTC, a $400,000 grant that we got a year ago or so to update that plan," Albert said.

Albert also said the county will advance its housing element (now on an eight‑year update cycle), prepare a community health and wellness element for parts of Eden, and continue work on a resource conservation/open‑space/agriculture (ROSA) element for East County. He warned that updates such as the South Livermore Valley Area Plan are constrained by regional and state water‑quality permitting and are proceeding only as those regulatory issues are resolved.

The presentation prompted several supervisors to press staff on sequencing and regional coordination. "I really need staff, I really need to know that staff is going to have somebody assigned to Plan Bay Area," the board president said, expressing concern that ABAG/Plan Bay Area decisions could affect county access to transportation funds. Albert said a plan director is assigned to regional advisory working groups and that staff will bring drafts back to the board: "We are... plugged into the process," he said.

Several public speakers urged the board to accelerate work on the Castro Valley downtown specific plan and related downtown projects. Peter Rosen of Castro Valley and other residents said the existing downtown plan dates to 1993 and that local groups are ready to participate. "We encourage that type of involvement because you can use... the energy and the knowledge from a lot of the community members," Rosen said.

Staff and supervisors repeatedly emphasized limited resources and the tradeoffs involved: redevelopment funding that once supported streetscape projects is gone, and staff must balance needs across multiple unincorporated communities. Staff told the board a Castro Valley specific plan launch is slated for the next fiscal year, with work beginning in July 2015 and additional resources to be sought through the budget process.

The briefing was informational; no ordinance or binding action was taken. Board members asked staff to provide timelines and to coordinate more closely with ABAG/Plan Bay Area representatives as regional planning decisions move forward.