Touchstone Golf will operate the 18-hole golf course for at least two years under a tentative agreement reached with Marin County. The county plans to purchase the golf course from the Trust for Public Land for $8.85 million, but the sale is contingent on the county and the trust securing $4.94 million from state and private sources.
Touchstone Golf will reopen the San Geronimo (Calif.) Golf Course and operate it as an 18-hole course for at least two years under a tentative agreement announced on March 21, the Marin (Texas) Independent Journal reported.
In January, C&RB reported that the golf course had been seeking an interim operator.
“The agreement will go to the Marin County Board of Supervisors for their approval next Tuesday,” said Marin County Parks Director Max Korten. The course could reopen as soon as April 14, the Independent Journal reported.
Korten made the announcement during an informal community meeting at the golf course’s clubhouse. It was the third such meeting that Korten has hosted to answer questions about the county’s plans to acquire the golf course. About 60 people attended, the Independent Journal reported.
The news about the course reopening did not seem to mollify golf enthusiasts angry about the closing of one of the county’s most affordable golf venues. Several people quoted from emails and other documents contained in a recent court filing to block the purchase and quizzed Korten about why the county’s plans to buy the golf course weren’t announced to the public sooner, the Independent Journal reported.
Korten said that the California Wildlife Conservation board staff has recommended approval of a $3.42 million grant to Marin County to assist in the purchase. The grant must still be approved by the wildlife conservation board itself and the grant’s terms finalized, which is expected to take several months, the Independent Journal reported.
The plan is for the county to purchase the golf course from the Trust for Public Land for $8.85 million, perhaps as early as the end of this year. That commitment, however, is contingent on the county and the trust succeeding in securing $4.94 million from state and private sources. The county intends to use $1.4 million from its general fund to pay for the 22-acre section of the property where the clubhouse is situated so its future use will remain discretionary, the Independent Journal reported.
Marin County received four responses to its request for proposals to operate the golf course for two years while the county raises the money to purchase the course and conducts public hearings to determine how the property should be used, the Independent Journal reported.
The agreement with Touchstone calls for the county to supply the company with $140,000 in working capital to start operations; out of that pot of money Touchstone will be paid a monthly management fee of $6,000. The county indicated in its request for proposals it might be willing to offset lessees’ risk up to $140,000 annually. Korten has said it would cost the county about that much to maintain the golf course site without golf during the planning process, the Independent Journal reported.
Korten said the agreement with Touchstone includes a provision that would allow the county to shut the golf course down if it appears financial losses are going to exceed $140,000 per year. The agreement also gives the county the option of extending the agreement for another one to two years, the Independent Journal reported.
Several attendees Wednesday referenced emails contained in a motion for a preliminary injunction to block the county’s purchase of the golf course, which was filed in Marin Superior Court on March 15. A group of Marin residents calling itself the San Geronimo Advocates is paying for the legal challenge. The emails selected as exhibits show that county staff began looking into the purchase as early as March 2017. The first public disclosure came in September 2017, the Independent Journal reported.
“It seems a little dirty not to bring us the public into that conversation when you guys had it,” said Jim Purkey. “You guys are working for us.”
Niz Brown of Woodacre, a member of the San Geronimo Advocates group, said, “It was all a collusion. It was all started by Todd Steiner. He has been coveting this course for two decades.”
Steiner is executive director of the Salmon Protection and Watershed Network (SPAWN). The San Geronimo Creek watershed is the largest undammed tributary to Lagunitas Creek, which has been identified as one of the most important waterways left for wild Central California coho salmon. Lagunitas Creek supports coho salmon and steelhead trout, listed species under the state and federal Endangered Species Act, the Independent Journal reported.
Korten said he sent his email to Steiner on the same day the county issued a press release announcing the county’s interest in acquiring the property. Korten said he reached out to other groups at the same time. “That was the first time I ever talked to Todd or anyone from SPAWN in my life,” Korten said.
Information about the county’s interest in the property couldn’t be disclosed earlier because sensitive real estate negotiations were underway to secure the property before a developer could snatch it up, Korten said.
In an April 3, 2017 email to Supervisor Dennis Rodoni and various members of county staff, Korten wrote, “One thing that is really important to the sellers is confidentiality, so I also just wanted to touch base as well to make sure we are all keeping this confidential.”
Josh Pettit also raised an issue about a grant application filed by Carl Somers, Marin County Parks’ chief of planning and acquisition, which is also included among the court filing’s exhibits. Pettit asserted that this application to the California State Coastal Conservancy estimated it would cost $8.92 million to acquire the golf course months before an appraisal was ever done, the Independent Journal reported.
Somers, however, said the first draft appraisal was received in April 2017, while the grant application was filed on May 31, 2017. In January 2018, the Coastal Conservancy approved a $150,000 grant to support a community planning process for future public uses of the property, the Independent Journal reported.
Critics of the purchase were in the majority Wednesday, but the deal had its defenders. Jean Berensmeier, a member of the San Geronimo Valley Planning Group steering committee, said many supporters of the purchase were choosing not to attend meetings like this one “because of the rudeness” shown by opponents, the Independent Journal reported.
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