Recent Press

State bond funds keep open spaces open
By Mark Prado, IJ reporter
Wednesday, May 26, 2004

MALT makes key purchases

State voters' approval of bonds to preserve open space is beginning to have a local impact, and the Grossi ranch near Novato - where ranchers and officials gathered yesterday - is a prime example.

Last December, the Marin Agricultural Land Trust (MALT) bought the property's development rights for $1.8 million, essentially keeping it from being developed.

The Department of Conservation's California Farmland Conservancy Program used $700,000 of voter-approved Proposition 12 funds toward the purchase, while the California Coastal Conservancy contributed $585,000 of Proposition 40 funds; the remaining money came from MALT. Proposition 12 was passed in June 2000, Proposition 40 in March 2002.

"It's important for us because the money helps us continue to take care of the ranch," Jim Grossi Jr. said yesterday, standing on his patch of 870 acres west of Stafford Lake.

Ranchers, along with local and state officials, gathered yesterday at the Grossi ranch to discuss the ongoing effort to keep Marin agricultural lands as open space.

"This enables us to help maintain the ranch for the next generation and a few after that," Grossi said.

Because of its location near urban Novato and the Stafford Lake reservoir, the Grossi ranch would have been prime for development sale in the case of any zoning changes, MALT officials said.

"In the next 40 years there will be another 20 million people in the state and another 3 million in the Bay Area," said Sam Schuchat of the Coastal Conservancy. "Without MALT and the ranching families there would be subdivision and strip malls here. There is no question about that."

Grossi has a sign up in front of his land that lets people know it was the 2000 Parks and Water Bond that helped pay to keep his land as open space. Similar signs are beginning to pop up around the county as more development rights are bought with the help of bond funds.

The Barboni ranch in the Hicks Valley, the Zimmerman Ranch in Marshall and the Moore ranch in Nicasio all have benefited from the passage of bond measures. The properties total 3,550 acres.

"It has made a huge impact on this county," said Elisabeth Ptak, MALT's associate director. "These bond issues are the latest effort to help preserve land."

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