While the Santa Barbara County Citizens Independent Redistricting Commission already finished the county’s redistricting process and adopted a new county supervisorial map in December, local cities are just beginning to review draft maps for their redistricting.
Here is the status of redistricting for the three South Coast cities.
Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara’s Independent Redistricting Commission met on Jan. 20 to begin reviewing draft maps.
As of that meeting, no draft maps had been submitted by the public — although the commission is continuing its outreach efforts — so the commission reviewed three maps created by consultants from the National Demographics Corporation.
NDC consultant Daniel Philips presented the three maps, pointing out how, although each map is different, each plan kept Santa Barbara’s Eastside in District 1, the area west of the Mesa in District 2, the West Side area in District 3, the Riviera in District 4, Upper State in District 5, and the downtown area in District 6.
The commission members include three retired California judges: Melinda Johnson, Abraham Khan and Elizabeth Allen White.
Commissioners will continue to meet in February and March, with the final hearing scheduled for March 30.
The Santa Barbara City Council is set to adopt a selected map during its April 12 meeting.
More information on Santa Barbara’s redistricting process can be found on the Independent Redistricting Commission webpage and the most recent meeting can be viewed on the city’s YouTube page.
Goleta
The City Council will review draft maps submitted by the public started next week, after the Goleta Public Engagement Commission took a look this week.
According to the Draw Goleta website, a total of 51 draft maps have been submitted by the public and there are five additional maps created by the demographer consultant firm.
Watch the Public Engagement Commission meeting from Wednesday online here.
The Goleta City Council is set to review the draft maps at its Feb. 1 meeting, as well as during special meetings on Feb. 3 and Feb. 24.
The council will then select a map during its March 1 meeting, with final adoption on March 15.
Carpinteria
The Carpinteria City Council began reviewing draft maps on Monday, looking at the three five-district maps created by consultants at Redistricting Partners based on maps submitted by the public, which can be viewed online.
A total of 23 community interest maps and 130 draft maps were also submitted by the public. Draft maps submitted by the public can be viewed here.
Council members reviewed several draft plans: draft plan A, based on DistrictR ID 95054, which used Highway 101 as a boundary between districts; draft plan B, based on DistrictR ID 93368, which kept all of the coast and all of the northeast area together, and includes three Latino-influenced districts; and draft plan C, which kept the downtown beach area together in a district.
While no official selections have been made, councilmembers appeared to favor draft plan A.
The Carpinteria City Council will hold a second hearing in February and a final hearing in March, when the council will pick a district map for future elections.
More information on Carpinteria’s redistricting process can be found on the city website.
— Noozhawk staff writer Serena Guentz can be reached at sguentz@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.