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Veterans to turn old Castro Valley library into community center

Contra Costa Times - 8/4/2017

Aug. 04--CASTRO VALLEY -- A pair of veterans groups with no solid place to put down roots soon may have a new home inside the old Castro Valley Library building on Redwood Road.

The Castro Valley Municipal Advisory Council, by a unanimous 7-0 vote, designated the old Castro Valley Library building as a Veterans Memorial Hall at its July 24 meeting. The advisory board also recommended Alameda County forge lease agreements with American Legion Post 649 and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9601, naming them as the facility's main tenants.

"Honestly, this is huge for this community; this is a big, big deal," Castro Valley MAC Chair Marc Crawford said at the meeting.

"What to do with this building has been a concern for a long time, along with figuring out how to pay for it. I can't think of a better use," he said.

Though details have not been hammered out, Alameda County owns the old library building and could lease it to the veterans groups for at least 20 years, county General Services Agency Director Willie Hopkins said. The lease must be brought back to the Castro Valley MAC to review and approve, although the county board of supervisors will have final say.

Plans for the 10,239-square-foot library building at 20055 Redwood Road include creating a permanent headquarters for American Legion Post 649 and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9601, along with office space for both organizations. The two veterans service groups currently hold many of their events and meetings at the Hayward-Castro Valley Moose Lodge on Rutledge Road in Castro Valley.

"Our main purpose is just to have a meeting place where veterans can meet, set up some other things for veterans to do and all of that," American Legion Post 649 Commander Larry Ames told the Castro Valley MAC.

The Veterans Memorial Hall also would serve as a meeting place for the Golden Gate Young Marines and USS Hancock Sea Cadet unit, both based in Hayward, along with various Boy Scout, Cub Scout and Girl Scout troops.

Some space also would be set aside for Friends of the Castro Valley Library, which has used the building to store books that are brought out during three annual weekend book sales at the current library on Norbridge Avenue.

Apart from its use as storage space, the old library building has sat vacant since 2009, when it closed and the current library opened near the Castro Valley BART station.

The selection process for a new tenant began in June, when a Castro Valley MAC subcommittee started vetting proposals for the building. Those included one from the Castro Valley Unified School District to expand the Castro Valley Virtual Academy, a college prep high school program; add more career and technical education classrooms at Castro Valley High; expand the school district's preschool program; or create a child development center focused on technical and career education.

The school district proposed the plan to the Castro Valley MAC in April but withdrew it shortly afterward, said Candi Clark, assistant superintendent of businesses services.

That left the Veterans Memorial Hall proposal as the only one on the table, Castro Valley MAC member Linda Tangren, a subcommittee member, said at the meeting.

"In the proposal that was submitted by the two veterans organizations, you will see that their intent is to use this building as a meeting and conference area, which is much needed in Castro Valley, so we really felt that we were moving in the right direction," Tangren said.

The old library building will likely require Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant upgrades and the removal of hazardous materials, although county supervisors could allocate money to pay some of those expenses, Hopkins said. The cost of those fixes, however, has not been determined.

"Once they fully understand the scope of what you're trying to do, I feel somewhat confident they will allocate the funding for me to take care of the (Americans with Disabilities Act) issues, and that way it will mitigate the liability for the organizations going forward," Hopkins said at the meeting.

"From a county perspective, I don't see any limitations that will limit the ability to go forward in utilizing a veterans nonprofit organization," he said.

Castro Valley resident Sylvia Griggs said she and her husband, Steve, live near the old library and support plans for a Veterans Memorial Hall but worry about possible noise impacts, along with the facility's hours of operations.

"It's a wonderful cause, and Steve and I both agree that, of all the things to go in there, this is the most worthy," Griggs said at the meeting.

Contact Darin Moriki at 510-293-2480 or follow him at Twitter.com/darinmoriki.

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