The Sierra Club has endorsed three candidates for the Santa Monica City Council in the November 4 election.

After what it described as “an extensive review of each of the candidates running in the election,” the Club has endorsed challengers Ted Winterer and Susan Hartley and incumbent Ken Genser, who’s running for a sixth term.

Hartley, a lawyer, serves on the Airport Commission, was active in the Treesavers’ campaign to stop the City’s removal of a large number of ficus trees from downtown Santa Monica, and has been a critic of the City’s land use policies.

Winterer, a writer, was co-author of Prop T, which would limit commercial development and is president of the Ocean Park Association.

Kathie Knight, local spokesperson for the club, said, of Hartley and Winterer, “We believe that they will do an excellent job on the important environmental issues that will come before the City Council.”

Of Genser, she said, “Ken Genser is an incumbent who has shown by his record that he has a sensitivity for environmental concerns that make him worthy of re-election.

“Some of the important issues that are likely to come before the City Council in the near future that these candidates could have an enormous impact on are addressing Santa Monica’s traffic problems, reining in over-development, working to solve the excessive air and noise pollution generated by the Santa Monica Airport and the impact that it has on the adjacent residential neighborhood, providing more open space and parks and working to determine the best way possible for Santa Monica to care for its urban forest.”