An environmental group has purchased nearly all of the remaining land at Sargent Ranch, a vast property south of Gilroy along Highway 101 where Southern California investors sparked a 10-year controversy after proposing to build a sand-and-gravel quarry.
Under the agreement, the Palo Alto-based non-profit Peninsula Open Space Trust will pay $23.04 million to Sargent Ranch Partners LLC, a San Diego development group, to purchase 2,284 acres of the bucolic ranch, one of the largest remaining pieces of undeveloped private property in Santa Clara County and home to mountain lions, bald eagles and steelhead trout.
“It’s classic California,” said Gordon Clark, president of the Peninsula Open Space Trust. “Beautiful rolling hills, iconic oaks, creeks, wetlands and dramatic vistas. A stunning landscape that feels like you are stepping back in time. It’s very gratifying. This has been a goal that so many people have shared for so long.”
The deal, which closed Wednesday, kills plans for the quarry, a proposed 403-acre open-pit mine…