The Eden Area Livability Initiative (EALI) Environment/Agriculture working group held their second meeting of 2014 on April 17 at the Castro Valley Library. During this meeting, we discussed the progress made during the March meeting, and continued with the editing and fleshing out of the specific projects for the unincorporated area.

The goal of the EALI Environment/ Agriculture group is to, “Provide Educational opportunities in the school system and surrounding community about agriculture (farming, ranching, and equestrian), while seeking park and open space opportunities in the urban built out environment.” This goal was developed during the course of over a dozen meetings last year, where specific projects to implement this goal were identified. This goal and these projects are so broad and touch on so many aspects of the community, that it was determined that existing organizations that could help implement them should be engaged immediately. In addition to the over 50 local organizations and agencies identified and contacted, coordinating teams consisting of Chris Boynton and Debbie Jelincic from Project EAT, Rob Bennaton of the UC Cooperative Extension, and Eva Poon from Nate Miley’s office, agreed to devote staff time to attend these EALI meetings and report on their progress to their organizations. This group is being referred to as “One Table”. The Environmental/Agriculture group agreed that it was sensible to take advantage of the opportunity provided by these existing agencies to assist in the implementation of our goals.
In addition to the discussion of the “One Table” proposal, we also completed the clarification of the specific projects for the group. We discussed the impact that AB 551 can have upon blighted properties, and recognized that the county may need to amend the existing ordinances to allow community gardens in areas zoned Commercial or Industrial. Through the efforts of citizens in all five of the unincorporated areas (Ashland, Cherryland, Fairview, San Lorenzo, and Castro Valley), progress is being made to improve the community. If you would like to learn more about the EALI process or attend the next meeting, more information can be found at the EALI Phase II website.