CUPERTINO, Calif. (KRON) — Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian is asking the County to pursue plans to acquire and close the Lehigh Cement Plant and Quarry property, citing its environmental impacts.

Last week the Board of Supervisors voted in support of Simitian’s proposal to consider options to accelerate the closure and restoration of the property to “allow for more community-focused consideration of how the land should be used in the future.”

The property encompasses over 3,500 acres — 2,656 of which are in unincorporated areas of the County and the remaining land within the cities of Cupertino and Palo Alto.

Simitian points to the negative health impacts from mining and the development of housing near the plant “warrant a reevaluation of the plant’s continued operation.”

“We have an opportunity to sit down at the table and say let’s chart a future that ultimately on some kind of a timeline involves the cessation of operations there and public acquisition,” said Simitian, who represents Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Cupertino, and other cities near the site.

Simitian says he’s concerned that a fragmented regulatory system has resulted in the lack of transparency that exists around Lehigh’s operations.

Last month Simitian directed County staff to produce a 10-year record of violations involving Lehigh Cement Plant and Quarry going back to 2012 with the intent to provide more transparency and help clarify whether violations involving Lehigh’s facilities necessitate regulatory and/or legal action.

“Since the 1930s, when what is now the Lehigh quarry and cement plant opened, generations of residents have lost local habitat, experienced air, and dust pollution, and lived with polluted water runoff from the property,” said Brian Schmidt, Legislative Advocacy Director at Green Foothills. 

“We welcome the rare opportunity to reverse this environmental destruction.”

County staff is set to return within 90 days with options to develop a planning process, timeline, and eventually a proposal for the property.

A community meeting will be held virtually on March 2 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. to provide an update on the cement plant and quarry — to register, click here. 

KRON4 News reached out to Leigh Hanson but did not receive a response in time for the publication of this report.