By Eliza Ridgeway

Town Crier File Photo A town committee will resolve the future of Westwind Barn in the coming year.

A public committee of Los Altos Hills residents will get a chance to plan the future of Westwind Barn in the coming year. As town programming increases at the town-owned barn, renovations to the building and the site’s usage plan are expected.

At the May 25 city council meeting the council agreed to form a new standing committee, with meetings open to the public. Candidates will be solicited over the summer, with the council planning to elect members by Labor Day.

In a planning process estimated to take a year, the committee will set the balance of public recreation and individual riding at the barn, a topic that has been fraught with debate.

The committee will also recommend sources of funding for and plan improvements to the barn, including construction of ancillary facilities such as staff housing and a community room. A preliminary evaluation of the site released last month estimated that renovation and restoration may cost $1 million. The Supporters of Westwind, a fund-raising non-profit, has raised $200,000 for facilities improvement. General fund and park bond monies may also be available.

The council aims to elect a maximum of 11 members to the committee, based in part on the successful size of the 10-member town hall renovations committee, which had a comparable task. Councilman Craig Jones said he aimed to “err on the side of over inclusion,” soliciting participation from two city councilmembers (one to chair the committee), Supporters of Westwind, Friends of Westwind, other barn users, neighbors, the parks and recreation department and nonpartisan residents.

Councilman Dean Warshawsky, who lives near the barn, is no longer recusing himself from voting and discussion on the issue. Councilman Mike O’Malley, whose wife, Sharon, is president of Friends, continues to recuse himself. Councilman Jean Mordo and Mayor Breene Kerr have already identified themselves as likely members of the committee.

Jones also recommended dissolution of his ad hoc committee, which in March made the controversial recommendation to change Westwind’s governance. Friends of Westwind has leased and managed the barn for the past 28 years. It renewed a 10-year lease with the town two years ago.

“The current governance is not in the public’s interest,” Jones said. “I do not believe any money should be spent on renovation or restoration until the issue has been solved to the satisfaction of the city council.”

Members of Friends who spoke at the meeting unanimously supported development of a master plan for the barn and decried Jones’ call for wholesale change.

“You guys are in charge - you own the barn,” Friends member Patricia Roche told the council. “(Friends) is running operations, that’s it. There’s a lot of people who really care, and I’d hate to see that shoved under the mat.”

Friends faced criticism this spring from the city council and a lawsuit alleging labor and wage violations from two ranch hands who resigned from the barn this month. A hearing with the state labor commission is expected this summer.

“I believe a mistake was made giving a private organization a 10-year lease and operating control over a key taxpayer-owned physical asset,” Jones said in an e-mail.

Roche said that who manages operations is not central to the barn’s current issues.

“In reality, the problem at Westwind isn’t governance,” Roche said. “It’s the fact that Westwind has no master plan.