Civil war breaks out over plans to plonk massive kids summer camp in picturesque valley

Civil war has broken out over plans to construct a massive kids’ summer camp in picturesque rural Castro Valley that it says will serve 1,000 kids in the Bay Area. The Oakland-based Mosaic project would be built on 37 acres of land in Castro Valley along Cull Canyon Road with convenient access to the Bay Area.The group says the location is “situated in a picturesque canyon” that includes a creek, hiking trails, and wooded hills with valley views,” according to the website.The non-profit organization has sought “approval for a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) to establish a local Outdoor Recreation Facility that will keep this work accessible to Alameda County kids.” They argue that it is not for the construction of an outdoor camp, but instead “an Outdoor Recreation Facility, which includes youth camps.” A total of 12 cabins, along with a dining hall and staff residence building are to be built on the site, with more than 30 acres left to get kids outdoors and off screens. The project dates back to 2018, when a donor purchased the land for $1.9 million and gifted it to the non-profit.

However, despite the group and donor’s plans to build, not to mention spending millions in hiring additional consultants for studies and environmental analysis to get the project off the ground, it has faced strong opposition.“We expected that there would be some opposition,” Sabrina Moyle, the board chair of the Mosaic Project, which runs the camp and classroom programs for an additional 4,000 students at 34 Bay Area schools, told the San Francisco Chronicle.“We didn’t expect that it was going to be as deep as it turned out to be, so that was a bit of a surprise.” The nonprofit gives Bay Area 4th and 5th grade kids a weeklong experience in nature and previously relied on renting land in Santa Cruz and Napa counties, whose locations are not tenable for staff to commute.The project has faced opposition from the Castro Valley Municipal Advisory Council and fr...