Planning Commission accepts Lehigh Southwest annual quarry report as company seeks major reclamation amendment

The Santa Clara County Planning Commission on Jan. 17 voted unanimously to accept the annual status report from Lehigh Southwest Cement Company on compliance with the 2012 reclamation plan and related monitoring obligations.

The report, presented orally by Rob Salisbury, the county’s SMARA principal planner, said the quarry has been “more or less mothballed” and that Lehigh continues to process and sell small volumes of aggregate from existing stockpiles while meeting required water-quality monitoring and training. Salisbury told commissioners the county holds a reclamation bond “that totals approximately 77,000,000” to cover reclamation should the operator be unable to do so.

The central policy question before the commission is a reclamation plan amendment Lehigh applied for in 2023 and that staff expects to deem complete following a December resubmittal. Salisbury said deeming the amendment complete will allow the county to start the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) process. He said the proposed plan differs significantly from a 2019 version Lehigh previously withdrew because the new submittal does not propose new mining areas and instead focuses on reclaiming the existing quarry.

A major element…