Concerns over liability led the Inverness Association to consider exploring the transfer of two long-held landholdings to a like-minded organization—a suggestion that sparked fierce debate inside a normally sleepy board meeting last week.
William Barrett, who heads the nearly century-old civic group, floated the idea of relinquishing Dana Marsh, a tiny parcel north of town, and a one-acre park adjacent to the Vision Road tennis court. The latter is home to a footpath, berry patches, a stretch of Alder Creek and stairs leading up to the Inverness mesa.
The plan was tabled—at least for now—after about 20 attendees and several board members voiced strong objections.
“The Inverness Association was designed to protect these very special places,” resident Dakota Whitney said. “To learn—just as I did yesterday—that they are on the chopping block by the very organization that is entrusted with preserving them is quite alarming to me.”
Mr. Barrett said the idea arose after the group faced angry letters, complaints to the county and the threat of fines related to its clearing of a stand of acacias on land gifted by the tennis club decades ago. The association replanted the lot with native species. “It made me start thinking, why do we even own that?” Mr. Barrett said.
His broader liability worries center on Plant Park, which served as an outdoor dining area for Saltwater Oyster Depot during the pandemic. A recent walkthrough, he said, revealed strewn toilet paper, human excrement and raised septic caps that could pose a tripping hazard. “It’s an honor that the community has allowed us to preserve these properties for public use,” he said. “But we are running out of manpower to maintain them on a purely volunteer basis.”
In the past, the association employed a maintenance worker to care for its land holdings—three small parks, the Gables building, and a network of paths and footbridges that were carved out in the 19th century to link the town’s First and Second Valleys. But in 2018, the board voted to eliminate the maintenance position, believing volunteers could shoulder the workload.
“Everyone on the board at that time said, ‘Oh, we can do it. We can handle it. We’ve got the energy.’ And here we are,” board member Alex Porrata said on Wednesday.
Today, a small team of volunteers handles the not-so-little tasks of repairing the wooden bridges, clearing brush and fallen trees, fixing stairway treads and cutting grass.
“It’s not a huge job,” volunteer Tom Gaman said. “But it would be better if, from time to time, we hired someone to do additional work.” He added that the association had hoped that residents would step in, “but that hasn’t exactly panned out.”
Founded in 1930, the Inverness Association was tasked with “the collection of funds and their expenditure on the construction and maintenance of roads, trails, bridges and culverts, and for the public welfare of the town,” according to its founding charter.
As of late February, the group had $58,000 on hand and $230,000 in investments, in part supported by annual membership dues set at $50 per family and $35 per individual.
“Are we going to need to increase our dues so that we can finance things?” Mr. Barrett asked. “Perhaps.”
The association recently spent around $121,000 renovating the Gables—the oldest building in Inverness and home to the Jack Mason Museum and the public library—offset by a $48,000 grant from Marin County.
Efforts to make the 1893 structure carbon-neutral drew criticism for their cost and for compromising the historic character of the building’s second story. One vocal opponent was local historian Dewey Livingston, who has been associated with the museum for 40 years.
“Is this whole idea of getting rid of properties some way to recoup the money spent on that?” he asked.