More than 30 years after residents banded together to stop a proposed quarry near Leppitt and Bathe roads, their fight is set to bear fruit.

RE Ross Trust - which owns Hillview Quarries - proposes to subdivide the site and hand over 46 hectares to Cardinia Shire Council to form a reserve.

The remainder of the site would be carved into nine residential lots, ranging from 4889 square metres to 1.25 hectares, a council spokesman said.

Eric Dodge, an Officer scientist, was among the first anti-quarry protesters, and he later formed the Quarry Impact Association.

He said the main reason for his resistance was to preserve what is part of a wildlife corridor between Harkaway and Gippsland. Others in the group were perturbed by the prospect of a chainline of quarry trucks travelling by and other noise and disturbances.

"We could hear the blasting and machinery from a quarry two kilometres away in Army Road so [the proposed quarry] would have been very noisy here."

Ross Jephcott, of Upper Beaconsfield, has been part of the group since moving into the area 24 years ago. He recalls energised public meetings of up to 100 in Officer and monthly meetings in group members' homes.

As the fight went on, more houses were built in the area, making the site less suitable as a quarry, he said.

"It was pretty frightening - a gigantic hole as deep as the Rialto, high and as wide as the MCG. It didn't look good for us because we had such limited resources. It was mainly to do with the quality of people in our community."

The group was well spiced with experts including a government bureaucrat, solicitors, a mathematician, a scientist, a maths teacher and nature observers such as Laura Levens.

The turning point for the battle was in the 1990s when the group's geologist shot down Hillview Quarries' claims that the mine was needed to end a shortage in hard rock.

It was a "logical" argument that won over the state government, which quashed the company's plans, Mr Jephcott said.

Cardinia councillor Ed Chatwin said the site would become a walking recreation area, which would exclude horse-riding and mountain biking.

Its work largely done, the group is planning to wind down. A few of its pivotal members such as president Graeme Kidd and Dr Charles Wilson have recently died.

"If we're being realistic, [the proposal] is a pretty good outcome," Mr Jephcott said.

"We need to wind it all up. It's all over now."