The Salmon Protection and Watershed Network lost an attempt to re-establish an injunction on development in the San Geronimo Valley after a judge ruled against the nonprofit last week. 

SPAWN says it could pursue additional legal action if the county approves developments in the watershed before undertaking a court-ordered environmental review.

A moratorium on development was first imposed in 2012 by a different Marin judge, Lynn Duryee, who said the ban could be lifted when the county passed an ordinance on development near valley streams. The Board of Supervisors approved an interim ordinance in October 2013, but that ordinance contained a clause nullifying the new rules if a lawsuit was brought.

SPAWN filed a suit soon after, alleging the county did not adequately assess the cumulative impacts of development near creeks in the San Geronimo Valley in the 2007 Countywide Plan. An appeals court ruled partially in SPAWN’s favor in March, agreeing the county must undertake an environmental review of the county plan. Yet that ruling also said the moratorium on development was unwarranted.

The injunction, the appeals court said, affected the property rights of homeowners who “were given no opportunity to address the impact and advisability of such an injunction.” The appellate court said a county court needed to issue a final determination on the matter, and in last week’s announcement, Marin Superior Court Judge Paul Haakenson said he “cannot ignore” the appeal court’s findings on the injunction.

Tom Lai, the assistant director for the community development agency, said the moratorium delayed two major development or redevelopment proposals in the valley. One is for Aldo Tarigo, a Lagunitas homeowner who in March said the injunction thwarted his application to update a failing septic system.