San Rafael, CA – At its November 14 meeting, the Marin County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to approve a purchase agreement for the 157-acre San Geronimo Golf Course. The agreement positions the County of Marin to move forward with completing the transaction in coordination with a third-party nonprofit, The Trust for Public Land (TPL).
Marin County Parks will circulate a formal request for proposal to solicit an interim operator for the San Geronimo Golf Course within the next few months.Under County ownership, public access to the land will be preserved, helping maintain San Geronimo Valley’s rural character for future generations. If sold to a private owner, the property could be developed into a resort or used for other recreation commercial-type purposes.
With approval of the purchase and sale agreement, County staff can begin the process of working with the local community to establish a long-term vision for the property. Community planning and visioning workshops could begin as soon as early 2018. Proposed future uses would then need to be approved by the Marin County Board of Supervisors.
“I believe this in the long term will benefit the County and all property owners along our streams and improve the chances of recovery of the coho and steelhead population,” said District 4 Supervisor Dennis Rodoni, who represents the San Geronimo Valley. “My goal from the very get-go was to fund this acquisition with the least amount of County general funds and taxpayer money. This proposal achieves that goal.”
The golf course will be closed within the next few months. If a golf operator with a financially feasible proposal can be found, the golf course could reopen. Otherwise, the property will be maintained by Parks as a greenbelt with a network of multiuse pathways. Parks will circulate a formal request for proposal to solicit an interim golf operator.
The property’s price, set by the purchase agreement and based on professional appraisals, is $8.85 million. The County plans to contribute $2.5 million in Parks Measure A acquisition funds and $1.41 million of County general funds. The agreement is contingent upon the County’s ability to raise an additional $4.94 million by December 2018. Marin County Parks and TPL will work together to raise funds from the state and nonprofit foundations to support the purchase.
TPL will assume ownership of the golf course property next month, at which time Parks will take over day-to-day land management, maintenance, and operations responsibilities. As established in the purchase and sale agreement, TPL will sell the property to the County by mid-December 2018.
The Marin County Parks staff report and an additional staff presentation from Tuesday’s Board meeting are on the County’s website. The video of the public hearing and Supervisors vote is now available for viewing on the County website. For more information, answers to frequently asked questions and to sign up for email updates, visit the San Geronimo Property Acquisition webpage.