Santa Clara County leaders have slammed the brakes on a rezoning plan that South County farmers, winery owners and equestrians warned could threaten their businesses and the future of Silicon Valley’s iconic — but vanishing — rural vestige.

After hundreds of written letters of opposition, the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously voted to order major changes to a proposal to rezone the region’s farmlands — and restart the community engagement process. County officials have been trying to set clear expectations around rural development as local policymakers fight to preserve the “Valley of Heart’s Delight” and grapple with sprawling builder’s remedy projects that threaten open space. But the county’s draft zoning amendments have sparked uproar due to dramatic changes to the regulatio

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