By Kathleen Acuff

Some think it’s on the endangered species list. Others think it’s time to release its members into their natural habitat. Meanwhile, the Los Altos Environmental Committee is still active.

The city council will decide whether to disband or formally re-establish the group after hearing from the council Personnel Committee, whose members are David Casas and Curtis Cole. All five councilmembers agreed to the referral after hearing the opinions of six members of the Environmental Committee and a representative of the League of Women Voters at the Feb. 14 council meeting. The question before the council is whether working with a committee is the most efficient way to go about improving the town’s natural environment.

Staff conduct research, attend meetings, prepare agendas and minutes, produce reports and develop ordinances for all city commissions and committees, according to a report by James Walgren, city development director. His department provides that support for the Los Altos Planning Commission, the Board of Adjustments, the Architectural and Site Review Committee and the Historical Commission. The city is short-staffed, and hiring has been frozen for some time.

“It’s a work-efficiency recommendation,” Walgren told the council as he proposed disbanding the nine-member committee that meets at 7:30 p.m. on the fourth Monday of each month in the Redwood Room, city hall.

Environmental Committee Chairman Kenneth J. Lim said, “We understand the staff shortage and workload, and we want to reduce the burden on staff.”

The committee’s goals for 2001 included ordinances to protect Los Altos creeks, prohibit wood-burning fireplaces in new construction and mandate recycling of demolition material. The city council adopted only the ban on wood-burning fireplaces.

Walgren praised the committee’s accomplishments - most notably the adopted ordinance and last year’s update of “The Trees of Los Altos.” However, he added that city staff did the work of meeting most of the committee’s goals.

“Staff believes that the Environmental Committee members can individually remain just as effective by contacting the city council on matters of environmental interest. … (The) Planning Commission is just as well suited to consider many of these same subjects,” he wrote.

The alternative is to establish the committee by a resolution that can be amended by a majority of members at any council meeting. City staff recommend that all city committees be established by resolution. City commissions are established by ordinances passed after a process of public hearings. Ordinances become part of municipal code and are difficult to amend.

Lim urged the council to adopt a resolution format rather than disband the committee.

Meanwhile, the city council has referred the Santa Clara County Land Use Initiative to the Environmental Committee - for examination without staff support - and to the Planning Commission. Both groups have been asked for reports.