NEWSFLASH/UPDATE: What is at stake/Did you know?

NEWSFLASH/UPDATE:  On January 19, 2016, The East Bay Regional Park District officially withdrew their “Conditional Use Permit” for their sprawling construction plans for the Lake Chabot Park Nike Base site and surrounding area.

Our Community remains unclear on their intentions.  So we must continue to be vigilant.  BE ADVISED: THIS IS AN ONGOING CONCERN. We will keep everyone apprised who has logged in to our website with updates and new information as we receive it.

This momentous decision would not have been a reality without everyone’s passionate participation in opposition. January 11th’s historic MAC meeting sent a message loud and clear: We value our Lake Chabot Park and will continue to protect it.


Thank you to all the concerned citizens of Castro Valley and our valued neighboring cities who also are Park users. Congratulations to all those that made it possible.  Now go out and celebrate by hiking, biking, walking or running in Lake Chabot’s beautiful open spaces!

What is at stake/Did you know?

The East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) is planning to construct three large buildings to be located on the Nike Base/Park service area ridge site overlooking Lake Chabot at a cost in excess of 21 million dollars! This proposal would forever scar and deface Lake Chabot’s skyline and surrounding habitat. 

• The January 11th, 2016, Castro Valley Municipal Advisory Council (MAC) meeting addressing EBRPD’s proposed massive Construction Plans for Lake Chabot demolished any standing historical records of MAC attendance. The MAC board roundly rejected EBRPD’s  Plans—UNANIMOUSLY. Well over 350 community members crammed into the Castro Valley Library.  Many heard the passionate proceedings from the lobby, as the meeting room was packed to over-capacity, with citizens sitting on the floor. Any parking was long gone. Out of over 30 public speakers voicing their opinions—NONE were in favor of the Park District’s Plan.
 
To put EBRPD’s proposed NEW Construction in perspective: 
• When Parking Lot square footage (149,000) is added to the Buildings’ square footage (41,590), the total is 4.375 acres of land—the equivalent of 4 Football Fields worth of construction.

This entire Industrial Complex will be “off-limits” to the Public and fenced-in. Blocking Public Access to existing trailheads.

• One of the proposed buildings towers 44 feet high and is 200 feet long, on a highly visible ridgeline. Think of the massive billboard-like obtrusive light pollution of that structure at night!

• This new construction will require more than 14,500 CUBIC YARDS of removed, excavated soil—the equivalent of OVER 1,450 SEPARATE LOADS by a Standard, 10-Wheeler Dump Truck or 725 SEPARATE LOADS by a Double-Bottomed 18-Wheeler. Very Heavy equipment, and very heavy traffic. 

Keep in mind that these figures are all in addition to the already existing structures on the site!  DO THE MATH. This unchecked Industrial Sprawl does not belong here.

• Professional experts in the fields of Architecture, Civil Engineering, and Landscape Architecture---that are not associated nor imbedded with The Park District---have ALL come to the same conclusion: This site can NOT support this sprawling Industrial Complex. 

This Construction needs to be situated elsewhere---OUTSIDE of the Park’s boundaries, to a more CENTRALIZED location where it will not permanently DEFACE our environment, DISPLACE Wildlife, DESTROY our scenic views, and negatively IMPACT ACCESS to our Park.

• The Park District—with this proposed location— is in direct violation of their own established Master Plan codes and environmental principles; while financing it with our taxpayer Bond Funds.


• This construction proposal is by no means final! If the public does not answer this time sensitive call to action to prevent this construction, we will lose much of our access and daily activities to Lake Chabot! Not to mention its unnecessary defacing of Lake Chabot’s natural beauty.


•A very disturbing aspect is that Public Access is not a part of EBRPD’s plan. We will no longer be able to access the Nike Base area that has long been the “gateway” to Lake Chabot Park for generations of hikers, bikers, runners, and all users. It will be “off limits” to us.


• In addition, our Castro Valley MAC (Municipal Advisory Committee) rejected the EBRPD’s “Master Plan” by a crushing vote of 6 to 0 against this proposal.


• EBRPD’s environmental document claims that these buildings’ impact on the surrounding views will be less than significant, but their environmental documents did not assess the permanent damage to the ecology and views from Lake Chabot and the surrounding parkland.  

• We are not opposed to the idea of upgrading facilities for our valued civil servants, we do stringently object to the impactful location of these proposed buildings in our Lake Chabot Park. They need to be re-located, outside the Park.


• Many wild and native animals and their delicate habitat will be permanently displaced as a result of this proposed construction plan, and it will have great impact on the Park user experience on all levels. Increased traffic of heavy equipment and trucks will do irreparable damage to Lake Chabot Park, create ongoing noise pollution, lessen air quality, and directly infringe on neighboring homes


• These Buildings are literally situated right in some of our own backyards! The location makes little sense when there are many other more practical and more suitable—less impactful—locations available to the Park District and their expansive land ownership.


The Facts

• Our Community—and many other Park users outside of Castro Valley—has largely been kept in the dark about many aspects of this development and its evolution; and what its undesirable resultant expanse will mean in reality.

• These proposed buildings are in direct violation of the Park Districts very own codes and principles for preserving natural spaces:
-Master Plan KEP4 states“The District will participate in efforts to protect scenic and cultural resources.”
-Master Plan PRPT24 states“The District will seek to locate facilities in a manner that preserves open space.”

And
-Facility Development Plan PRPT29 states“The District will work to reduce the detrimental visual impact of buildings, towers and access roads at existing sites and will work with other agencies and neighbors to reduce this impact on adjacent lands.”

• Building #1: 30,800 square foot 44-foot tall three-story 200 foot long public safety building on the side of a 500-foot tall hill.
 Building #2: 7,700 square foot 28-foot tall corporate yard building on top of a 540-foot hill looking down over Castro Valley and Lake Chabot. 
 Building #3: 3,090 square foot service yard to be comprised of three smaller buildings.

What You Can Do





• It will only take a moment of your time, but will have a lasting impact for yourself and our community.  Tell your family, friends, associates, clubs, churches, organizations, environmental groups, etc. to send emails stating their concerns ASAP to the following people. Time is of the essence. Be heard!

• East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) should follow their Master Plan in developing this project and needs to relocate these facilities to an area that will not have a visual impact on the Park and its neighbors.

• Send an email to the EBRPD Board of Directors now and ask them to stop this project and reconsider the negative impact on the Park and surrounding Community. 

Who to contact:

Supervisor Nate Miley, Alameda County Board of Supervisors:
district4@acgov.org

Robert Doyle, Gen.Manager EBRPD
bdoyle@ebparks.org

Scott Haggerty, Alameda Board of Supervisors:
district1@acgov.org

Richard Valle, Alameda Board of Supervisors:
district2@acgov.org

Wilma Chan, Alameda Board of Supervisors:
district3@acgov.org

Keith Carson, Alameda Board Of Supervisors:
district5@acgov.org

Damien Curry, Alameda County City Planning, Planner: 
damien.curry@acgov.org

Whitney Dotson:
wdotson@ebparks.org

John Sutter:
jsutter@ebparks.org

Dennis Waespi:
dwaespi@ebparks.org

Doug Siden:
dsiden@ebparks.org

Ayn Wieskamp:
awieskamp@ebparks.org

Beverly Lane:
blane@ebparks.org

Diane Burgis:
dburgis@ebparks.org

• Below is a Sample Letter Suggestion Template. However, personal responses are the most powerful letters/emails. Please use Template as a guide only:

Feel Free to copy this sample letter, paste it into your email document and
reword to your satisfaction prior to sending the email.

EBRPD LETTER ISSUES
SAMPLE LETTER TEMPLATES

·      I walk at Lake Chabot every day and don’t want to have to look up at two enormous buildings while I am enjoying the natural setting. These buildings need to be re-located elsewhere, outside of the Park. The Park District needs to be a good neighbor to the community and to the Park users.

·      I ride my bike in the Park on a regular basis and don’t want to have tall buildings to look at as part of my outing. The current location on a ridge line would negatively impact the outdoor environment for me and others that use the Park to get away from it all. 

·      EPRPD’s Master Plan on Page 80 KEP4 states that the District will participate in efforts to protect scenic and cultural resources.  The Plan on Page 106 PRPT24 re-emphasizes this point by stating “The District will seek to locate facilities in a manner that preserves open space.” It goes on in PRPT29 to state that “the District will work to reduce detrimental visual impact of buildings…………..and will work with agencies and neighbors to reduce this impact on adjacent lands.” The Mitigated Negative Declaration ignores these principals and chooses to locate new tall buildings on ridgelines that will be clearly visible to Park users and to the neighboring community all the way to Castro Valley Boulevard. Surely there are other more site-appropriate alternatives than Lake Chabot Park for such buildings. EBRPD states that it will Preserve Open Space, but this proposal does just the opposite. 

·      EBRPD is using bond money for the proposed facility improvement plan that violates the District’s commitment to Open Space and the protection of views. This conflict was not considered during the study that resulted in the Mitigated Negative Declaration. The tall buildings will be clearly visible from both inside and outside the Park and the building and parking lot lighting will not be something that I want to look at while I am camping at Hawk Ridge. The Park District should be better stewards of public money and not build on ridge lines. 

·      Why can’t maintenance on fire trucks and sanitation vehicles be done at other locations? Alameda County Fire has an under utilized facility at Dublin that could maintain the fire truck and the sanitation trucks can be maintained at the new EBRPD facility in Tilden Park. This is a duplication of services.