Marin plan envisions new park, fire HQ
A long-defunct golf course tucked into the rolling hills of West Marin may soon become a county park with a new fire department headquarters on the site of the former clubhouse under a plan to be considered Tuesday by the Marin County Board of Supervisors.
At the public hearing, county staff will ask the board to consider buying the 157-acre San Geronimo Golf Course on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard from the Trust for Public Land. The national conservation organization purchased the property for $8.85 million when the 18-hole municipal course closed in 2017.
A state grant funded half that price in the form of a conservation easement, with a goal by the trust to turn it over to the county. Under the 157-acre purchase being considered by the board Tuesday, the county would pay $4.5 million for the 22-acre clubhouse parcel, according to Guillermo Rodriguez, the trust’s California state director.
The land now serves as a conservation easement known as San Geronimo Commons. It is open to the public as a passive park, used by hikers, bikers and equestrians as green space linking trails from the Golden Gate National Recreation Area to Point Reyes National Seashore. It connects to Roy’s Redwoods Open Space Preserve.
Under the proposed sale, the property would be maintained by the Marin County parks district. It is not expected to be developed into a built park, with pools, sport courts or other amenities, said a county spokesperson.
The property is on both sides of Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, and 22 acres at the corner of Nicasio Valley Road would be carved out for the Marin County Fire Department. This parcel includes the vacant San Geronimo Golf Course clubhouse, which is the only modern structure on the property.
It would become administration headquarters and a new station, replacing the headquarters station 2 miles away off Sir Francis Drake Boulevard in Woodacre, which officials say is outdated and isolated. The new fire station would include a new single-story firehouse, a classroom building and a training tower.
“Our current headquarters is on an old railroad right of way and is tucked back into a bowl surrounded by residential properties, so putting it out on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard is an ideal location,” said Chief Jason Weber of the Marin County Fire Department, which covers the Marin Headlands, most of West Marin, and other unincorporated areas. Officials said it incorporates six stations, including the Woodacre headquarters station, built in the 1940s and last updated in the 1970s.
The department has set aside $30 million for capital projects, and the new headquarters complex is expected to cost $70 million to $80 million, with a bond expected to pay for the balance.
It is not yet known whether the clubhouse can be salvaged, or if it would be more cost-effective to raze it and rebuild, officials said. The administration building would house 34 people, and the station would hold up to 17 firefighters, plus 12 pieces of apparatus — engines, ambulances, water tenders, bulldozers, search and rescue vehicles, all dispatched in emergencies.
The design of the complex, four buildings total, would be subject to public hearings and input.
“There isn’t a plan B,” Weber said. “If this doesn’t happen, we would not have an adequate headquarters location, not just to serve West Marin but the entire county.”
The Marin County Board of Supervisors already approved a resolution of intent to purchase the property at its March 5 meeting. Tuesday’s public hearing will begin the formal process of purchase, with presentation of a mitigated negative declaration of environmental impact.
When the golf course opened in the 1960s, it was the vanguard of what was expected to be a mass development of the Sir Francis Drake Boulevard corridor west of Fairfax. But the development never came, and neither did the golfers. The course was vastly underused, and during drought years its lush greens were seen as a stark example of water waste. The Trust for Public Land purchased it with the intent to turn it into a county park, a process that has taken five years.
“With strong community support, this decision will permanently preserve this cherished space for everyone’s enjoyment, provide crucial habitat for endangered salmon, and enhance community climate resilience,” Rodriguez, the trust official, said in a statement Monday.
There is no timeline for construction of a station, should the Board of Supervisors approve the purchase. Marin County Supervisor Dennis Rodoni, whose district includes the property, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
During its vacancy, the clubhouse has served as an outpost of the San Geronimo Valley Community Center, just east of the site.
During the coronavirus pandemic, vaccines were offered in the drive-thru parking lot, and later, a food pantry offered on Thursday afternoons by the community center moved there. Due to the location and convenience of the drive-thru option, it went from serving 300 cars a day to serving 750, a service that Executive Director Alexa Davidson hopes would continue if the fire department relocates there.
“We believe that a new fire station on that property will have a significant positive impact on public safety,’’ she said. “We believe there are enhanced possibilities for partnerships.”
“There isn’t a plan B. If this doesn’t happen, we would not have an adequate headquarters location.”
Chief Jason Weber of the Marin County Fire Department