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 building his family’s home in the valley. When environmentalists said the development would harm sensitive coho and steelhead spawning habitat, supervisors sided with Mr. Hedlund until the county lost in court after a lawsuit brought by the Salmon Protection and Watershed Network. Now, the supervisors have changed their tune and say the property could be acquired “for preservation purposes and restoration of fish habitat.”
Last month, the board approved $108,000—the amount Mr. Hedlund owed in taxes—to begin a lengthy process of acquiring the land. (Although no plans have been initiated, the San Geronimo Land Trust—”a very modest, kind of kitchen table, nonprofit” that’s preserved four parcels since its founding in 1997—has expressed a desire to manage the property, said Liza Crosse, a former chair.)
Notice has been issued to Mr. Hedlund and several creditors that have liens against the property, allowing them to stop the acquisition process by paying back the taxes. At least four creditors have liens against the property, ranging from $100,000 to $2.76 million, some of which may have combined the streamside lot with other parcels across the state, said Roy Given, the county’s director of finance. Any of the lienholders could delay the acquisition on Mr. Hedlund’s behalf by paying the $100,000 in taxes and fees, but a much more complex process would be required for any of them to take over the title directly, he added.
The primary lienholder is Victor Scheinman, who recorded a lien for $250,000 in June 2003, according to county records. In order to repay him and three other creditors, Mr. Hedlund listed the property for sale last year, but he claimed that interference from county planners—who may have referenced the same building restrictions due to sensitive fish habitat that prevented Mr. Hedlund from constructing his home years ago—scared off potential buyers.
Reached Wednesday evening, Mr. Hedlund criticized the county’s acquisition of his property, an intervention which has further disrupted the process of putting his property on the market and appease his creditors.
“It’s concerning to me and should be concerning to most private property owners that the county will come in. Instead of allowing it to be sold at a tax lien auction—where it’s sold to the highest bidder who will pay what the property is actually worth—they are moving forward and spending taxpayer money purport- edly for salmon habitat,” he said. “It’s just disturbing. It’s very rare that these are used. It’s essentially taking my property.”
An environmental studies major in college who founded several ecologically conscious businesses, Mr. Hedlund said he and the primary lender Mr. Scheinman wrote to the county offering several compromises: imposing deed restrictions for future buyers, selling the parcel to the county at market value or offering conservation easements near the creek; he said they received a curt email in response instructing them to pay the taxes owed.
“We’ve offered a number of ways,” Mr. Hedlund said. “Basically, we’re trying to accomplish the same thing the county is trying to accomplish. We’re willing to work with them.” (Civic Center staff had left for the day by the time the Light spoke to Mr. Hedlund and so could not confirm his account.) “I’d hoped to raise my kids there in Marin,” he said. “I lost faith in the county. I don’t see them doing their job…. It seems like they’re making up the rules as they go.”
Mr. Hedlund, who lives in San Francisco, said he still has plans to show the property to potential buyers starting in December.