Marin is moving ahead with plans to buy the former San Geronimo Golf Course and turn the clubhouse parcel into a permanent headquarters for the county fire department. On Tuesday, supervisors approved a 10-month option agreement to facilitate the purchase of the 157-acre property from the Trust for Public Land at a cost of $4.5 million. The option provides time for an environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act. The Marin County Fire Department will fund the option, environmental reviews and feasibility studies, and would fund an eventual purchase.
Marin County Fire Chief Jason Weber and David Speer, a facilities planning and development manager for Marin, said the benefits of acquiring the property include improved emergency response times, fewer impacts to the neighborhood surrounding the current Woodacre headquarters, and the continued use of the land as a public park and stewardship of the Lagunitas Creek watershed.
Chief Weber said the existing headquarters, some of whose buildings date back to the 1940s, are antiquated and inadequate. “The equipment at the current headquarters does not suffice,” he said. “The apparatus does not fit in the bay and [the station] is not heated. Sometimes daily staffing at Woodacre is 20-plus, and the station was not built for that.”
At one time a train tunnel ran through White’s Hill to the current headquarters, making its location more strategic. But after Woodacre and the other towns of the San Geronimo Valley were developed in the early 20th century, the fire station found itself in the middle of a residential community. Response times are now slowed by tight corners and several stop signs.
Relocating the headquarters to the 22-acre parcel that houses the golf course clubhouse would better serve West Marin, the western Ross Valley and the county as a whole, Chief Weber said. Already the clubhouse was used as a hub for firefighters during the Woodward fire, and then later during the pandemic, to allow for social distancing.
In June, the Trust for Public Land secured easements on the rest of the undeveloped parcels that make up the majority of the property. The easements restrict the use to passive recreation, such as hiking, biking and equestrian access.
The property is also important habitat for Marin’s endangered salmon. Erica Williams, a senior project manager at the Trust for Public Land, said it is one of the largest parcels adjacent to San Geronimo Creek. In recent years, the Salmon Protection and Watershed Network has carried out restoration projects on the property.
Besides approving the option agreement on Tuesday, supervisors approved a contract for the environmental review and several feasibility studies. The option is priced at $100,000 with an initial term of 10 months and the possibility of two 90-day option extensions that would cost $30,000 each. Both the option price and extensions are non-refundable if the county decides not to purchase the property, but both would be applied toward the final purchase if it does.
Several years ago, after operating for nearly five decades, the San Geronimo Golf Course owners were looking to sell. Hoping to prevent a private buyer from swooping in, Supervisor Dennis Rodoni proposed the idea of obtaining the land to preserve as open space. In 2017, the county recruited the Trust for Public Land to foot the $8.85 million bill and hold it while the county gathered funds. A failed lawsuit by the San Geronimo Heritage Alliance attempted to block the trust from converting the use to open space, saying it would violate county code and the local community plan.