By Elizabeth Cloutman

Los Altos Hills

Following years of debate and delays, Los Altos Hills may be nearing resolution in adopting an updated version of its 1981 Master Path Plan map.

A public hearing is set for June 6 so that the city council can obtain residents’ input on map revisions made by town staff and the pathways committee. To assure residents have complete information, the city council voted 4-0 last Thursday to request that the pathways and easements the pathways committee has recommended for elimination be included on the updated map. Mayor Toni Casey was not at the meeting.

Town staff plans to mail copies of the map to all town residents in late May for review before the hearing. Following the hearing, the planning commission will review the revisions before making its final recommendations to the council.

Nancy Ewald, a pathways committee member, said she believed it was important those pathways and easements recommended for removal be noted on the revised map mailed to residents. “It may be that some people do not want them eliminated,” she said.

Councilman Steve Finn agreed. “I’m concerned that there should be full disclosure,” he said.

Council members suggested that perhaps the best way to indicate eliminated pathways and easements on the map would be to mark them with crosshatches or note them as dotted lines. The council left it to the staff’s discretion as to the best method of carrying out the council’s request.

Pathways Committee Chairman DuBose Montgomery told the council that he estimated the committee had voted to eliminate 20-50 pathways and easements from the map, but it had not determined the number of miles lost from the system. The committee made its determinations based on its findings that the pathways or easements in question were either nonexistent, nonviable or unnecessary links in the interconnecting roadside and off-road pathways system.

Montgomery said the committee also recommended adding some additional roadside and off-road paths not indicated on the map.

He explained the committee had not eliminated existing roadside or off-road paths, or additional roadside paths noted on the 1981 map.

Instead, members examined off-road pathway easements without paths and additional off-road paths indicated on the 1981 map.

Off-road pathways have been a divisive issue in the town for two decades.

The majority of the city council hopes to make off-road pathway easements voluntary because some residents believe off-road paths threaten their privacy and security.

These residents view making easements a requirement for development or remodeling on the 10 percent of properties affected as a form of extortion.

Opponents fear making easements voluntary will mean the collapse of the pathways system.

The pathways committee met for almost 12 hours over two evenings, April 22 and 25, reviewing paths reviewing off-road pathways easements without paths and additional off-road paths identified on the original 1981 Master Path Plan Map. Montgomery solicited public comment at the beginning of both meetings.

“We continue to ask residents to verify this updated map. I would encourage folks to e-mail, write or call our city engineer to verify these findings … I would like to remind you these are only our recommendations,” Montgomery said April 25.

The town’s engineering staff had divided the map into 16 sections for easier reference, and pathways committee members discussed the paths in question section by section. The committee took a straw vote after reviewing the entire map April 22 and reviewed the map again April 25 before making its final recommendations.

City Engineer Mintze Cheng and Brian Robinson, an experienced trail-walker hired to walk the pathways in February to verify the town engineering staff’s findings, were present at both meetings to assist. Committee members also visited some sites that were in question, Montgomery said.

Associate City Engineer John Chau spent the equivalent of 10 full workdays searching town records and other legal documents to complete the first update of the 1981 map last November. The staff issued a second update in March, after Robinson completed walking known roadside and off-road paths. He discovered several paths and also reported on the condition of the paths he walked. Several residents provided additional information. The pathways committee formulated their recommendations, based on the March version.