Submitted by: Laura Reams
Submitting Department: City Clerk
Agenda Section: Presentation
Item Title:
title
Redistricting Commission Presentation of Recommended Ward Maps
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Suggested Action:
recommendation
Presentation Only
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Summary Background:
Every ten years, after the Census, the City must use the new census data to review its ward boundaries, and if needed, redraw the boundaries between wards in order to reflect how the local populations have changed. The authority for the modification of ward boundaries is found in the City Charter, ? C4-17.
The redistricting process is done with the primary goal of creating wards which have substantially equal populations. The widely accepted standard for population variation between the largest ward and the smallest ward is that there should not be a greater than 10% difference. Additional criteria for consideration throughout the redistricting process is listed below.
* Wards must be comprised of contiguous territory and as geographically compact as possible.
* Wards shall, as much as possible, be bounded by natural boundaries, street lines, and/or City boundary lines.
* Wards must be drawn to provide fair and effective representation for all residents of the City, including racial, ethnic, and language minorities. Additionally, to the extent possible, wards should preserve identifiable communities of interest. The redrawing of the City's ward boundaries should be designed to ensure that our elected body is representative of the City's diverse population.
* Wards most likely to be impacted by future development may be smaller by design in order to minimize impact of population growth on future redistricting.
The Redistricting Commission was appointed in June 2021 to make recommendations to Council on revisions to the existing Ward boundaries based on 2020 Census data. A preliminary review of that data demonstrated that Wards 3 and 5 were outside of the recommended 10% variance in population and a redistric...
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