A drive to preserve Sky Ranch as open space was all but completed Tuesday as Marin County officials approved acquisition of the scenic 16-acre Ross Valley tract.

County supervisors, sitting as Open Space District directors, approved the $630,000 purchase from the Marin Open Space Trust, which in turn had acquired the land for $1.2 million following a fundraising campaign. The trust must pay off a $630,000 loan, a transaction the county funding plan will enable.

The next step for the county is obtaining a $300,000 grant from the state Coastal Conservancy for the acquisition, a move the staff there supports. That grant will augment $330,000 in county Measure A sales tax funding.

The property, a swath of ridge that straddles the border of Fairfax and San Anselmo, was put on the market when owner Robert Cary died two years ago. A drive to buy the parcel spearheaded by Jonathan Braun of the San Anselmo Open Space Committee drew wide support involving citizens as well as county, San Anselmo and Fairfax officials, committees and agencies. Braun credited Supervisor Katie Rice for a “killer job” in helping coordinate a complicated purchase.

The Open Space District will “incorporate the property into the Bald Hill Preserve and develop a day-use equestrian facility, which may include hitching posts, watering facility, picnic table and other similar facilities that recognize the historic legacy of the property,” a staff report said.

Although the ranch’s legacy includes stables that accommodated equestrians for decades, “as part of the purchase, the Marin Open Space Trust has agreed to remove the existing structures except those identified to remain in place to support equestrian day use, and donate up to $90,000 for the rehabilitation of areas of the property impacted by prior use,” according to Ron Miska, assistant parks director.

“We didn’t get to the finish line on a boarding facility,” Rice noted Tuesday, although equestrians hope boarding ultimately will be allowed. “I’m thrilled there will be a day use for horses, and hopefully that will evolve” into a facility accommodating horses overnight, Linda Novy of Fairfax said.

Those who boarded horses at the ranch expressed outrage last year at being forced to relocate their horses, noting that funds were raised to help with the acquisition based on the belief horses would remain. Insurance and other issues required the horses to depart.

Rice called it an “amazing piece of ridgeline saved from development,” Supervisor Kate Sears called it a “fantastic project,” and Supervisor Damon Connolly said the acquisition program “and its partnerships represents Marin at its best.

A parade of speakers including Fairfax Mayor Barbara Coler and Councilman John Reed supported the purchase.

The purchase came as officials reviewed a $10.6 million budget for use of Measure A sales tax funding next fiscal year. County parks will receive $6.9 million, cities and recreation districts will share $1.6 million, and farmland preservation programs will get $2.1 million. Of the money going to county parks, about $1.4 million will be set aside in a land acquisition account, with the bulk of the rest used to restore and maintain park facilities

Documents outlining spending priorities favoring regional park improvements drew praise from several officials, although Sears sought clarification of service details.