The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors Aug. 17 reinforced protection of local hillsides and habitat with a unanimous vote to approve a memorandum of agreement between the county and the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District.
One goal in the partnership is thwarting Lehigh Southwest Cement Co.’s efforts to disturb the ridgeline as part of expansion efforts. Supervisors Joe Simitian, whose District 5 covers Los Altos, Los Altos Hills and Mountain View, and Otto Lee championed the original proposal brought before the board in June.
Midpen and the county will share enforcement of the preservation easement – granted in 1972 – that protects land adjacent to Rancho San Antonio County Park, owned by the county and managed by Midpen, and Rancho San Antonio Open Space Preserve, owned and managed by Midpen.
The agreement grants Midpen the right to monitor and inspect the protected ridgeline and surrounding habitat that is part of the Lehigh Cement Plant & Quarry property, and enforce identified violations of the ridgeline easement through the process contained in the agreement.
“This is another step in the right direction to preserve our hillside views and their habitat for the benefit of the environment, the critters and the people who call the Peninsula and West Valley home,” Simitian said. “We are experiencing record highs, drought conditions and destructive fires that come from human impacts to the environment; here we have the opportunity to say, ‘Enough.’ With Lehigh’s proposal to essentially chop the top off the ridgeline, it was apparent that a strong enforcement partner like Midpen would help us ensure long-term protection of the hillside.”
Midpen’s mission and role is to protect and preserve Rancho San Antonio and other open spaces in perpetuity, according to Yoriko Kishimoto, Midpen board member and chair of the agency’s Lehigh Quarry ad hoc committee. The Midpen board formally approved the agreement unanimously at its Aug. 16 board meeting.
“Monitoring and, if needed, enforcing the ridgeline easement granted in 1972 will be a powerful tool to preserve this key viewshed and one of the world’s biodiversity hot spots while also buffering noise and air impacts,” Kishimoto said. “We thank the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors for the opportunity to collaborate on this important action to protect the public interests.”
In addition to the cities of Los Altos, Los Altos Hills and Cupertino, advocates for the environment expressed their support for the agreement, including Green Foothills, the Sierra Club, Mothers Out Front, the Audubon Society, Muwekma Ohlone, the Greenbelt Alliance, the Clean Creeks Coalition, the Santa Clara Valley Native Plant Society, Grassroots Ecology, Bay Area for a Clean Environment, Operating Engineers Local 3 and Teamsters Local 853.
For a link to the agenda and video stream for the Board of Supervisors’ discussion and the vote (found under item 33), visit sccgov.iqm2.com/Citizens/Detail_Meeting.aspx?ID=13226.
