Members of the Vashon Golf &Swim Club recently voted to move forward with the process to allow King County to buy the development rights on nearly all of the course’s land. The purchase, if completed, would mean that if the club were ever to cease its business on the land, 43 of the total 53 acres — those that don’t currently have buildings on them — would be protected from development.

“(The process) is in its very, very early stages,” Vashon Golf &Swim Club Board President Bob Roggenbuck said last week.

The county and the club have a signed purchase and sale agreement for the acreage on Maury Island.

The move comes more than two months after The Beachcomber reported the club was more than $36,000 behind in its property taxes and assessed members in an effort to pay the delinquent amount. King County Assessor’s Office records show the taxes have now been paid and the club is current.

But the delinquent taxes raised concerns about what would happen to the 53 acres of land if the club were ever to go out of business or lose the land.

“If we ever went under, we’d have to sell to a developer, and no one wants that,” Roggenbuck said.

One of the club’s members started doing research into how to ensure the land would be protected, Roggenbuck said. He discovered the county could buy the development rights and put a conservation easement — a voluntary agreement that permanently limits uses of the land in order to protect it — on the 43 acres of undeveloped land. In the meantime, the club will be allowed to continue operating as normal.

“This would allow us to stay on the land and keep it undeveloped if we were ever to leave,” Roggenbuck said.

The club would also receive money from the county for the purchase of the development rights, estimated at $880,000.

In an email to members, club officials said that the money would be used to pay debts and necessary transaction costs. Any left over would go into the club’s capital account.

However, the purchase is still years out, and much needs to be done before the transaction can occur. King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks Director Christie True said that with the signed agreement, the process of securing funding can begin. The money will come from the county’s Conservation Futures Program, a county-wide tax that collects 4 cents per $1,000 of assessed home value. The revenue is distributed annually in the form of grants to government and non-profit groups working to conserve land. True said securing the nearly $900,000 necessary to buy the club’s land could take one or two years.

The purchase would then have to be approved by the King County Council.