The primary lienholder on a storied property in San Geronimo will try to sell the parcel at a foreclosure auction on Tuesday, hoping to recoup his investment and clear the property of multiple liens that have dissuaded potential buyers. Victor Scheinman, a retired engineer who has known the property’s owner, Josh Hedlund, since the latter was a young child, wants to get at least $256,000 at next week’s auction in front of San Rafael’s City Hall. “I’m not an investor,” Mr. Scheinman said. “What I’m trying to do is recover my loan principal. The outstanding balance [on the lien] is far higher than what I’m asking for in this foreclosure.” The property has a long history; Mr. Hedlund was blocked from his plans to build a home a decade ago when the Salmon Protection and Watershed Network filed a lawsuit alleging that the county erred in approving the development because of potential impacts to the creek, citing the need for environmental review. SPAWN won, and Mr. Hedlund has not paid taxes on the property in years. (He was in prison for three years for money laundering and marijuana cultivation, although he denied knowing about the activities taking place in the Berkeley buildings he was leasing.) It is unclear whether the San Geronimo lot is developable; Mr. Scheinman, however, pointed out that the property is seven acres, not all of it near the creek that spurred the suit. The county itself has been in the process of trying to acquire the parcel for stream conservation; a previous attempt last fall to pursue the purchase by paying $116,000 in back taxes fell through because a technical issue with the application, which must be approved by the State Controller’s Office. Supervisors re-authorized the tax payment on Tuesday. But until that is finalized—a process that can take months—the owner can pay the back taxes. Mr. Scheinman said he himself will be a bidder next week to ensure its not sold for too little. (A new owner would need to pay the back taxes, in addition to the auction price.) Mr. Scheinman thought it might be possible for nonprofits interested in stream conservation to band together to buy the property at the auction. “It would be great if they could all talk to each other. It’s an opportunity for all of us to benefit from this deal: get together, pool some money, work with the county and get this thing settled and save us the risk of having some outside investor come in and develop the property, if that’s what they want to prevent.” If Mr. Scheinman himself purchases it, he said he would be open to donating the land, if he could somehow get his investment back.