Marin County purchased the San Geronimo Commons, a 157-acre parcel and one-time golf course bisected by San Geronimo Creek, for $4.5 million on Tuesday to develop a new county fire headquarters and continue the rewilding effort across most of the property.
The Trust for Public Land, a nonprofit that works to create parks across California, purchased the land from the owners of the San Geronimo Golf Course in 2018. The trust paid $8.85 million for the land, which it has held for the county since.
The action fulfills District Four Supervisor Dennis Rodoni’s original desire for the county to convert the property to open space.
After it was stalled by a lawsuit from residents who wanted to keep the golf course, Marin entered into a purchase agreement with the trust in 2022 and spent the last 15 months working to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act.
Before voting unanimously to approve the purchase, the Board of Supervisors adopted a study that showed the fire station plan would not negatively impact the environment so long as measures are taken to mitigate noise, lighting, construction emissions and interference with tribal cultural resources.
That feasibility study—whose blueprints included 26,000 square feet of new structures, including the fire station, parking and storage for emergency vehicles, an outdoor classroom and a training tower up to 45 feet tall—was published in December. Over the course of a month, 61 comments were sent to the county, a majority of which expressed approval for the project. Still, some took issue with the design, 24-hour noise and light impacts and, most of all, the tower, which will be visible from the road. A few comments expressed outright disapproval, writing off the project as a boondoggle that was out of touch with the valley’s rural character.
In a response released last week, the Community Development Agency said it could potentially move the tower or reduce its height.
“We are seriously opposed to this tower, as it will be a horrible eyesore for all those of us who will be stuck looking at it every day,” Laurie Roth, a San Geronimo resident who lives within view of the proposed tower, wrote in a letter. “We are not at all opposed to the new fire station being at the proposed new site, but this building goes beyond the true needs of the station or the public.”
Marin County Fire Chief Jason Weber said that using his department’s training towers in Novato or San Rafael was impractical for the headquarters, due to the growth of the department as a whole.
“We hire about 150 seasonal employees,” he said. “There’s a lot of stuff that we do as the headquarters that other agencies aren’t burdened with. Fire trucks are north of $1 million, and when you look at that kind of investment, you have to make sure it’s an adequate facility.”
The current headquarters in Woodacre began as an outpost of the Tamalpais Forest Fire District, an agency that preceded Marin County Fire Department. Via a tunnel through White’s Hill into Fairfax, the department could quickly navigate in and out of the valley. But in the 1950s, the tunnel collapsed, forcing crews to drive through neighborhoods peppered with stop signs. These days, about 75 percent of emergency calls come from outside of the Woodacre Flats, where the station is situated.
Mr. Weber said the facility was designed for 1940s-era trucks and equipment. “The fleet has also grown significantly,” he said.
Marin Fire’s personnel has grown significantly in recent years. In addition to seasonal crews, defensible space programs and emergency dispatch personnel are among the fastest-growing programs.
Two notable letters of support for the project came from the San Geronimo Valley Community Center and the San Geronimo Valley Planning Group. “While we would prefer that the full property remain as open space for public recreation, we are also aware that the purchase of the property is contingent on the county’s ability to construct a new fire station on the 22-acre clubhouse parcel,” Eric Morey wrote on behalf of the planning group.
The clubhouse sits on the 22-acre parcel. An easement for the remaining 135 acres—including the community garden, paths and the footbridge over Nicasio Valley Road—ensures they will be preserved as open space for recreational use.
None of the comments presented evidence that the project would have a significant impact that could not be mitigated to a less than significant level, said Rachel Reid, an environmental planning manager for the county.
Like all county fire stations, the valley station will feature 24-hour lights. Although the fire department has not said whether it is working with DarkSky West Marin to reduce the lighting in accordance with the group’s desires, the station will comply with the minimum requirements in the California Green Building Standards Code, which is designed to reduce harm to wildlife.
Though the purchase of the property represented a significant step for the fire department, the work is far from over. Mr. Weber said that construction is expected to take at least 18 months and will tentatively begin in 2025. He said he does not yet have an estimate of the total cost.