Castro Valley Municipal Advisory Council Meeting - December 16, 2025
Castro Valley Municipal Advisory Council Meeting - December 16, 2025
The Castro Valley Municipal Advisory Council (MAC) met on December 16, 2025, to discuss routine business, public art projects, and a contentious proposal regarding bike lanes on East Castro Valley Boulevard. The meeting included a presentation from the California Highway Patrol, public comment on multiple topics, and a vote to remove a buffered bike lane and restore parking pending a community process.
Consent Calendar
- No consent calendar items were listed or acted upon.
Public Comments & Testimony
- CHP Officer (non-agenda item): Reported November statistics for unincorporated roadways: 238 traffic citations, 5 DUI arrests, 3 misdemeanor arrests, 17 injury crashes, 36 non-injury crashes, 1 stolen vehicle recovered, 20 cars towed/stored. Officers participated in Thanksgiving enforcement (no fatal crashes) and the Castor Valley tree lighting. Upcoming: toy distribution on December 16 for Chips for Kids, and reminder that December is National Impaired Driving Month.
- Resident (in person): Requested that the board agendize the issue of unused Clear Channel park benches along Castro Valley Boulevard that attract trash and encampments. Also requested agendizing the issue of neighbor comments not being incorporated into planning decisions, citing a vegetation problem on an adjacent parcel where trees will grow into a sound wall.
- Callie (online): Criticized that CHP traffic safety reports are not on the agenda but suggested the supervisor’s office could fix that. Noted that a 2016 traffic safety report for Crow Canyon Road was updated in June 2024, stating four roundabouts would be designed by December 2025; expressed concern about ongoing fatalities on Crow Canyon Road.
- 17+ speakers on the bike lane agenda item (see Discussion Items).
Discussion Items
Public Art Projects for Fire Stations 7 and 25
- Rachel Ossajim (Director, Alameda County Arts Commission) and Deputy Chief Eric Moore presented final artist recommendations for two Measure X fire station projects: Fire Station 7 (Palomaris Hills) – artist David Burke, theme celebrating natural beauty and firefighter role; Fire Station 25 (San Miguel Avenue) – artist Josh Powell, theme celebrating community and fire department history. The selection process involved community committees, public input (101 comments for Station 7, 139 for Station 25), and multiple MAC presentations. The artworks will be printed on durable porcelain enamel on steel. Budget is on target. The motion to approve the art projects passed unanimously.
- Council comments: Commended the process and outreach. Some members requested future emphasis on local artists. Questions addressed artwork durability, maintenance, and revisions before final installation.
Castro Valley Bike Lane Utilization Report
- Daniel Will Dessenbet (Director, Public Works Agency) presented a study of the class II buffered bike lane installed on East Castro Valley Boulevard (Redwood Road to Five Canyons). The lane was identified in the 2019 Bicycle Pedestrian Master Plan and was implemented during road resurfacing, removing 35 on-street parking spaces (12 north side, 23 south side).
- Bike count methodology: Pneumatic tubes counted bikes over 16 days in October. Average daily bike volume ranged from 22 to 51 across eight locations; maximum observed was 89 on one Thursday. Car ADT is approximately 21,000.
- Public comment: Approximately 20 speakers supported keeping the bike lanes, citing safety for cyclists, especially children and seniors, reduced traffic congestion, support for local businesses, and connectivity to BART. Approximately 9 speakers opposed, representing property owners and merchants who claimed the parking removal harmed retail viability, surprised businesses, and was based on insufficient data. Some suggested alternative bike lane designs or partial parking restoration.
- Council deliberation: Members discussed the need for compromise, the lack of upfront community outreach, the desire for a data-driven decision, and the potential for a hybrid approach (site-specific parking restoration). A substitute motion to keep bike lanes but restore parking at affected business locations failed.
Key Outcomes
- Art projects approved: Motion to approve Alameda County Arts Commission public art for Fire Stations 7 and 25 passed unanimously.
- Bike lane motion: A motion to remove the buffered bike lane and restore parking, pending a restart of the process with full community and business input, passed 5–2. The motion directs Transportation and Planning to return the boulevard to its prior state and to bring the matter back for robust public engagement before any future decision on bike lanes.
- Minutes continued: Approval of November 17, 2025 minutes was continued because council members had not received the document in advance.
Meeting Transcript
Okay, let's go ahead and call this meeting to order. Um I'm calling the general purpose meeting December the 15th to order. And I am gonna ask uh Councilmember Davis to lead us in the pledge if you could remove your cover and stand, please. Okay, thank you, Councilmember Davis. And uh we have the pledge. Let's go ahead and have roll call. I'm here. Councilmember Davis. Present. Councilmember Phoebe, present. Councilmember Mota. Councilmember Thomas. Present. Vice Chair Mulkru. Present. Chairman. We have a quorum. Thank you. Okay, um, next item on the agenda is uh public comment. This is uh an opportunity for anything that is not on the agenda comment tonight. So um if you could fill out a speaker card and um we'll call you up. You'll have three minutes to speak at the podium here. And um just keep in mind that the microphone needs to be on because everything is recorded. So um Jen Paps. We've do we have anybody online that wants to speak. We do have an online speaker. Okay, let's go room first and then online. Can you hear me? Awesome. It's on. Okay. Hello, happy holidays. I'm gonna make this quick. I know you guys have a long meeting this evening, but I just wanted to give you some quick stats for November and talk about what CHB has been doing in the community. Um in November, we issued 238 traffic citations. We had arrested five DUI drivers on uh the unincorporated roadways, not including the freeway. We had three misdemeanor arrests, 17 injury crashes, and 36 non-injury crashes. Those were down for the from the previous month, and we recovered one stolen vehicle and we towed and stored 20 cars. Some past events that we were doing, uh the Thanksgiving holiday enforcement period, we had no fatal crashes over the long holiday weekend. Uh officers were out in full force, um, making sure that people were driving safely and getting to their destinations without injury. Uh we also attended the Castor Valley tree lighting ceremony, which was great. I didn't see any issues this year, so I was very excited to be a part of it. Some upcoming events um on December 16th, the some of the toys that were donated through the Chips for Kids Toy donation will be distributed at the Castor Valley Rotary Kids' Christmas party. So we're excited to see uh what people's generous donations are able to do to those who are in need this year. Um we are still collecting toys for our chips for kids toy drive. So if you stop by Walgreens this week, uh throw a toy in the donation bin, or if you need to, you can come down to our CHP Hayward area office at 2434 Whipple Road to don to donate some toys. Uh let's see. We don't have any education scheduled for the rest of the year due to the fact that it's there's a whole bunch of holidays and we're quite busy. Um, but I just wanted to remind everybody that December is national impaired driving month. Uh DUI crash or arrest is completely preventable.
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