Developer agrees to pay Strawberry neighbors $100,000 to end senior-housing suit
The developer of a shelved senior-housing complex on a Strawberry hillside has agreed to pay neighbors who sued over it $100,000 to end the case, under a settlement that leaves the company free to apply again and the neighbors free to challenge it.
Spirit Living Group agreed to pay the 60-member Tiburon Ridge Neighbors and its leader, Scott Arwin, $100,000 for legal expenses and costs, according to a copy of the settlement agreement Marin County Counsel Brandon Halter provided to The Ark Oct. 19. Apart from that payment, each party covers its own attorney fees and costs.
The county, whose December approval the neighbors challenged, is a party to the settlement but paid nothing, Halter said.
The county and Spirit Living signed the agreement Sept. 24 and 25, and the neighbors notified the court of the settlement Sept. 28. The agreement required them to ask the court to dismiss the case with prejudice, meaning the claims cannot be refiled, and the case was dismissed Oct. 8, court records show.
But the deal covers only the county’s Dec. 23 approval, which the county voided in June at the developer’s request. It “does not bar any challenge to any future application” for the 100 Thomas Place parcels, and it does not bind any party on a future project at the same site. No party admits liability.
Arwin and the neighbors’ attorney, Richard Drury, did not respond to multiple requests for comment by The Ark’s press deadline, nor did Sarah Ellen Owsowitz, an attorney for Spirit Living. Spirit Living co-owner Ali Shabahangi and Riley Hurd, who has also represented the company, did not respond to a request sent Oct. 20.
No new application has been filed for the site, county Senior Planner Megan Alton said Oct. 14.
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