In a serious improvement affecting one of the crucial contentious land use battles within the Bay Space over the previous decade, a Palo Alto environmental group has bought a big chunk of Sargent Ranch, a sprawling property alongside Freeway 101 south of Gilroy — and the Southern California investor group that proposed a sand and gravel quarry there has requested officers to droop their evaluate of the venture.
The nonprofit Peninsula Open Area Belief spent $25.1 million to purchase 2,467 acres of the ranch from Sargent Ranch Companions LLC, based mostly in San Diego, in a deal recorded Thursday in Santa Clara County data.
“We are very pleased to have had the opportunity to collaborate with the previous landowner to have achieved such a positive outcome,” stated Gordon Clark, president of the Peninsula Open Area Belief, in a press release.
Centered on one of many largest remaining personal undeveloped landscapes in Santa Clara County, the quarry proposal has been opposed by environmental teams, a number of metropolis councils together with in Santa Clara, Mountain View and Sunnyvale, and the Amah Mutsun tribal band, which beforehand inhabited the world for hundreds of years.
Final October, the Peninsula Open Area Belief spent $15.6 million to buy one other 1,340 acres of the ranch from the investor group. With the most recent buy, the group, which protects open house in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, now owns almost two-thirds of the 6,500-acre property.
Clark stated he couldn’t reply questions on whether or not the group is in negotiations for the remaining 2,500 acres, on which the quarry venture is proposed.
Onciano stated she informed Justus that beneath county ordinances, he may both withdraw the venture completely or modify it. Modifying it might require new environmental research, she stated.
“They asked us to suspend the application and I let him know that, per our ordinance, we needed a formal letter of withdrawal,” she stated. “We haven’t heard back on that yet.”
Justus didn’t reply Monday to calls looking for remark about whether or not the quarry venture is formally lifeless, or whether or not he plans to promote the remaining acreage.
“This is a project that allows for doing well by doing good,” stated Justus, managing director of Debt Acquisition Firm of America. “We are able to provide a consistent and reliable sand source for the South Bay at a fraction of the carbon footprint and to conserve an incredible piece of property.”
Justus’ group bought Sargent Ranch in 2013 from Wayne Pierce, a La Jolla developer who tried to construct golf programs, resorts, a on line casino and different initiatives there, solely to file for chapter.
The brand new house owners introduced plans for the quarry in 2015, setting off opposition from environmental teams, the Amah Mutsun tribe and others.
Kaufman famous the panorama kinds a key route for mountain lions, bobcats, deer and different animals emigrate between the Santa Cruz Mountains, the Diablo Vary and the Gabilan Vary.
“It’s so important for wildlife and future generations to keep it protected and not allow it to be excavated for an open-pit sand and gravel mine,” she stated.
Within the 1830s, the property grew to become a Mexican land grant, after which was bought by James P. Sargent, a New Hampshire native who got here to California together with his brothers throughout the Gold Rush, grew to become rich and ultimately represented Santa Clara County within the state Legislature from 1871 to 1873.
Throughout the late 1800s, a railroad depot, cottages, a resort, a publish workplace, a saloon and an open-air dance ground operated close to the ranch. It was a preferred spot for vacationers from San Jose and San Francisco, who hunted and had picnics alongside the close by Pajaro River.
The property additionally has substantial cultural significance. The Amah Mutsun tribal band and its supporters consult with it as a part of Juristac, a roughly 30,000-acre space between Gilroy and San Juan Bautista that was the ancestral house of the Amah Mutsun individuals for 10,000 years earlier than Spanish explorers arrived in California within the 1700s.
“This is what we have been hoping and praying for,” stated Valentin Lopez, chairman of the tribal band on Monday. “We’re really thankful.”
Lopez stated tribal members would love to have the ability to return to the panorama after a whole bunch of years.
“This is the area where our most sacred ceremonies were held,” he stated. “Juristac was the home of our spiritual leader. We don’t want to cut the property into a bunch of little parcels and desecrate it. It’s important to us that it be preserved as a whole.”
A part of the 1,340-acre Sargent Ranch property south of Gilroy, Calif., on Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. The Peninsula Open Area Belief, a Palo Alto environmental group, bought 1,340 acres of the scenic property alongside Santa Clara County’s southern border for $15.6 million. (Doug Duran/Bay Space Information Group)
Initially Revealed: June 2, 2025 at 3:41 PM PDT
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