Beginning in November 2022, the city of Goleta will be divided into four districts of about 8,200 residents each; voters in each district will elect a City Council member who lives in their own district. The mayor will continue to be elected by voters across Goleta.

Creating the boundaries of Goleta’s four districts is important because it will determine how neighborhoods will be represented on City Council. The process of creating districts has started and is more fully outlined at the website, www.DrawGoleta.org.

“The first step in the process is for residents to draw and submit maps proposing boundaries for Goleta’s four districts,” said Goleta Mayor Paula Perotte. “The deadline to turn in a map for consideration for the city’s move to district elections is Jan. 6.

“We hope Goleta residents will give the gift of participating in our historic district elections-map drawing process,” she said. “I ask Goleta residents to please make some time to draw and submit a map by the Jan. 6 deadline.”

To learn more about districting and how to submit either a paper map or a map online, visit www.DrawGoleta.org. For more help, community members can watch a “How to Draw a Map” video tutorial. To see some of the maps others have already submitted, visit https://districtr.org/tag/goleta.

Note that maps submitted before the mapping tools were updated with the official Census 2020 population data on Oct. 19 need to be resubmitted. Click here for tips on how to re-draw a map.

Other key dates are:

Jan. 19: Submitted draft maps will be available for review and comment on the Draft Maps page.

Jan. 26, 6 p.m.: City Public Engagement Commission (PEC) will review the submitted draft maps at its meeting, take comments from the public, and make recommendations to the City Council.

Feb. 1 and Feb. 15: City Council will review the PEC’s recommendations, take comments from the public, and begin deliberations on selecting a draft map. More meetings may be added for public comment and City Council deliberations, as needed.

Goleta residents can be involved in the process by participating in the meetings or submitting public comment ahead of time. An agenda with instructions on how to participate will be available prior to the meeting at http://cityofgoleta.org/goletameetings.

For more information, visit www.DrawGoleta.org. For assistance, contact cityclerkgroup@cityofgoleta.org or call 805-961-7505.