So far, everything is moving ahead as expected with Marin County’s plan to purchase San Geronimo Golf Course as the parks department this week issued a request for proposals seeking a lessee to operate the 18-hole course.
Operators interested in submitting a proposal must RSVP to 415-473-6394 by 3:30 p.m. Monday and attend a mandatory site visit at the golf course at 10 a.m. Thursday. Proposals are due Feb. 2.
Meanwhile, the Coastal Conservancy board on Thursday approved a $150,000 grant to the county to help cover the costs of preparing a conceptual restoration and reuse plan for the 157-acre golf course.
Carl Somers, Marin County Parks’ chief of planning and acquisition, said it is too early to know exactly how much the planning process will cost.
“We know we’ve got to do very intensive and thorough community outreach,” Somers said, “I think this is at least half of what it will cost. It is a major contribution to what it is going to take.”
Somers said the grant is just for “going out into the community and doing high-level discussions to get it to a place where we can start a master planning process.”
On Jan. 12, the Trust for Public Land closed escrow on its purchase of the golf course, paying $8.85 million for the property. The plan is for the county to in turn purchase the golf course from the trust. That commitment, however, is contingent on the county and the trust succeeding in securing $4.94 million from state and private sources.
A group of Marin residents, calling themselves the San Geronimo Advocates, has filed suit to block the purchase, asserting that the county’s decision to purchase the golf course before doing an environmental analysis violates the California Environmental Quality Act.
The county has agreed not to move forward with its purchase of the property from the Trust for Public Land until after the San Geronimo Advocates’ motion for a preliminary injunction is decided in mid-March or early April.
Somers said that a few days after escrow closed on the purchase the county had a signed permit from the trust to enter the golf course to do maintenance. He said golf course greens must be tended closely to prevent costly problems, such as fungal infections.
Somers said he expects the Board of Supervisors to review a lease and management agreement with the Trust for Public Lands for the golf course when it meets on Jan. 30. He said the lease will give the county extra flexibility to manage public access to the golf course.
“We’ll be out signing the property for limited public access,” Somers said, “and communicating about the specific forms of public access the property is open to during this initial interim period while we suss out whether or not we’re going to find a golf course operator.”
For example, the county may allow pedestrian and bike use of the pathways on the golf course and dog walking on the property.
Also on Thursday, the Coastal Conservancy approved a $199,385 grant to the Marin County Resource Conservation District to restore coho salmon habitat in San Geronimo Creek.
The project calls for the construction of in-stream and floodplain habitat improvements for coho salmon and other species in San Geronimo Creek at the McGuinn-Newman property in San Geronimo. The property is downstream from the golf course.
One of the key reasons the county of Marin is purchasing the golf course is to protect endangered Central Coast coho and threatened steelhead trout in San Geronimo Creek and its tributary, Larsen Creek.
According to the project description for the conservation district grant, the San Geronimo Creek watershed is the largest undammed tributary to Lagunitas Creek, which has been identified as one of the most important waterways left for wild Central California coho salmon. Lagunitas Creek supports coho salmon and steelhead trout, listed species under the state and federal Endangered Species Act.