The StoneTree Golf Club driving range has aced Novato’s permit process.
The City Council unanimously adopted several resolutions and gave preliminary approval to a zoning map change on Tuesday to authorize the range on a long-term basis.
“The driving range was established in 2017 through a temporary use permit,” said Kaitlin Zitelli, a city planner. “However, due to the challenges of the COVID pandemic, a City Council hearing for the project was delayed until tonight.”
The driving range will be open daily from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. and have 30 tee stations. Rideable mowers will cut the grass. An electric cart will retrieve golf balls. Organic fertilizer will be used for the range. Other site improvements include picnic tables, a storage shed and 12-foot-wide granite path.
Councilmember Pat Eklund thanked the staff for adding a provision “that there won’t be any chemicals added to the driving range or pesticides.”
“That’s what the county put on the original golf course,” she said.
The council meeting included no oral or written comments on the issue.
The StoneTree Golf Club is southeast of Highway 37 at the edge of the Black Point area. The driving range is on a 10-acre parcel leased by Bay Club Stone Tree LLC from the Marin County Flood Control and Water Conservation District.
The Bay Club purchased the golf course in 2014 and applied for a temporary use permit a year later “while options to create a long-term or permanent driving range were explored,” a staff report said.
The Novato Planning Commission granted the temporary permit in 2017, starting a two-year period in which an environmental impact study was done. In early 2020, the city resumed its review. Before public hearings, several nearby residents and the Marin Audubon Society expressed reservations about the impacts on wildlife.
The Marin Audubon Society opposed rezoning the 10-acre parcel “because it opens the door to houses or other structures.”
“We have never opposed the driving range as a temporary use as long as the property would be vacated if and when there were a potential for restoration to tidal marsh or other wetland habitats and the property continued to provide for flood control,” Barbara Salzman, president of the Marin Audubon Society, wrote at the time. “Although there are impacts to the diked bayland habitat from the driving range, they are minimal compared to other uses, such as houses or other structures.”
At the council meeting Tuesday, Zitelli said any additional development would be subject to further study and mitigation measures. She said the measures would include “pre-construction nesting bird surveys” and halting construction if crews find Native American artifacts during grading.
The City Council approved resolutions accepting several environmental studies, altering the city’s general plan and granting permanent permits. An amendment updating the city’s zoning map was introduced and endorsed. It will come up for final approval later this fall.
