San Geronimo Golf Course Future: Supes To Weigh Options

MARIN COUNTY, CA – The Marin County Board of Supervisors will address a voter-initiative ordinance during its Jan. 29 meeting that would require approval from a majority of countywide voters to change the use of the 157-acre San Geronimo Golf Course property to anything other than golf, according to officials.

A group of residents recently submitted signatures in favor of the ballot initiative to the Marin County Elections Department, and staff verified a random sample of signatures to ensure they were from registered voters, the county said.

Marin County last year sought to purchase the golf course to preserve as open space, however, the acquisition bid was blocked by a court order, and the property’s owner closed the course in December, staff said.

The citizen petition contained enough valid signatures to go to the Board of Supervisors for action on Jan. 29, said Registrar of Voters Lynda Roberts.

And according to county counsel Brian Washington, after a discussion the board could take one of three actions:

• Adopt the initiative without alteration or within 10 days after it is presented;
• Submit the initiative without alteration to the voters at the next statewide election in March 2020;
• Order a report to be delivered by Feb. 26 requesting information about a variety of things such as the fiscal impact, effect on the county’s general and specific plans and effect on the use of land. After the report is presented, the board would either adopt the initiative within 10 days or order an election at the next statewide election for voters’ consideration.

Another board option is to call for a special election sooner, county officials said, adding that the option bears an additional expense to the county of approximately $8 to $10 per registered voter.

"With over 160,000 registered Marin voters, an earlier special election would cost between $1.3 million and $1.6 million," the agency said.

Board meetings are on www.marincounty.org and aired live on Channel 27 for Comcast and AT&T U-Verse television subscribers.

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--Image via County of Marin