The Week Ahead is a summary of the issues to be discussed at the public meetings that Castro Valley Matters tracks in our Castro Valley Town Calendar.

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

The Alameda County Planning Commission meeting on Tuesday, 2/17/2015 will consider a proposed ban on fracking in the unincorporated areas of Alameda County.

Item 5 of the Regular Calendar:

To consider proposed revisions to the Alameda County General Plan, East County Area Plan, and the Alameda County Zoning Ordinance (Alameda County Code of Ordinances, Title 17 – Zoning) to prohibit permits for new oil exploration, drilling and extraction
activities in Alameda County, with the goal of reducing, over time,
the land use of petroleum extraction.”

The Alameda County Mobile Home Park Rent Stabilization Ordinance is also on the Planning Commission’s agenda. Passed in 1990, when Don Perata was Chairman of the Board of Supervisors, Ordinance No. 90-71 “specifies the maximum space rental increases allowed annually unless a request for a higher increase is approved by the Board of Supervisors.” Per the Ordinance, the “annual rent payable for use or occupancy of any mobilehome space shall not be increased by more than 5%.”

If an owner of a mobile home park would like to increase rent above the 5% limit, then the Board of Supervisors can be asked to consider a “petition of rent adjustment.” The cost of petition is $300.

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

The Board of Supervisors Transportation/Planning Committee meeting on 2/18/2015 covers two items:

• The transfer of the title of Hayward/Fairview Fire Station #8 from Alameda County to the Fairview Fire Protection District.
• A report on improvements to the Jelinic Development in Fairview.

Hayward/Fairview Fire Station #8 is located at 25862 Five Canyons Parkway and was built when Five Canyons was developed. When the County approved the location of the fire station in 1997, it included the provision that the county would hold title to the station, but that the county would lease the station the Fairview Fire Protection District for $1 a year.  Title could be transferred once an Emergency Vehicle Access (EVA) was built to connect East Avenue/Hackamore Drive to Star Ridge Road and a satellite fire station was provided during high fire season.

In its memo to the Board of Supervisors, the Community Development Agency states that the two requirements to permit title transfer have not been fulfilled.

Per an April 2014 letter from the Fire District to the County, then Board President (current Vice President) Catherine Ortiz-Carden stated that the Fire District Board believes that “changed circumstances […] have rendered the preconditions imposed by the County on such transfer unnecessary.”

Since 1993, the Fairview Fire Protection District has contracted with the City of Hayward Fire Department for fire protection and emergency medical services within its service district. The current contract is in effect until June 30, 2017.