On Tuesday, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors unanimously directed staff to investigate sharing enforcement authority with Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District over a ridgeline easement on Lehigh Quarry property. Thank you to all of you who asked the Supervisors to support the referral to staff.

Why It’s Important

For decades, Lehigh has been operating the largest active quarry in Santa Clara County in the foothills outside Cupertino. In addition to reducing hundreds of acres of the property to moonscape conditions, Lehigh has violated the County-owned easement agreement for many years, causing landslides and degrading the habitat right next to Rancho San Antonio Park.

The County and Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District (MROSD) worked together to protect the Rancho San Antonio Park and Preserve. Giving MROSD the authority to help enforce the easement would be an appropriate way to stop the ongoing harm and protect a part of the park and the public.

What’s Next

County and MROSD staff will now work together researching the legal aspects of sharing enforcement of the easement. If it’s feasible, we will ask the County and MROSD to jointly enforce protection of this hillside at Lehigh Quarry.

What You Can Do

With the support of you and others, the Board of Supervisors has taken the first step to potentially better protect the hillside between the quarry and Rancho San Antonio Park and Preserve. We invite you to thank the Supervisors for this important initial step.

Your voice does matter!