County supervisors moved ahead last month with plans to assume ownership of a tract of land near San Geronimo Creek, a 7.2-acre parcel owned by a convicted marijuana grower who built a real estate empire across northern California and watched it crumble from behind bars in federal prison.

Joshua Lonetree Hedlund acquired the property at 6451 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., just down the road from Lagunitas School, more than a decade ago in hopes of…