Redistricting Plan Greatly Impacts Agoura Hills

Agoura Hills and Santa Clarita will be sharing a state senator if the California Citizens Redistricting Commission approves the redistricting maps it announced on Friday.

The 14-person commission, comprised of five Democrats, five Republicans and four members who decline to state a party preference, will reconvene on Aug. 15. At that meeting, the commission will vote to either adopt the maps or reject them; no more revisions will be made, according to the commission's spokesman Rob Wilcox.

Based on the latest maps, Agoura Hills, currently represented by Sen. Fran Pavley in the 23^rd District, would become part of Senate District 27. The district would include the Conejo Valley cities Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Thousand Oaks, Moorpark and Westlake Village. In addition, the zone would extend south to Malibu, east to Chatsworth and Encino and north into Simi Valley and the Stevenson Ranch area of Santa Clarita County.

Agoura Hills Mayor Harry Schwarz is staunchly opposed to the proposed district. 

“To me, it’s a totally arbitrary drawing of perimeters around certain cities; it seems to have no rhyme or reason,” Schwarz said. “They’re putting us together with Santa Clarita. We have absolutely nothing in common with Santa Clarita. We’re basically a community that is fairly close to beach communities, with a heavy environmental emphasis … We’re not connected by any common freeways.”

In all likelihood, Senators Pavley and Tony Stickland would both run for reelection in the new 27^th district, which essentially combines parts of their current districts. If the map is approved, Pavley’s district would lose Oxnard, Port Hueneme and West LA County cities like Santa Monica and Beverly Hills. Strickland, currently representing Moorpark’s 19^th district, would lose Santa Barbara County as well as Ventura and Camarillo.

“While I have not finalized any plans, I would be honored to represent the people of the newly drawn Senate District 27,” Pavley said in a statement. “I have life-long ties to this district. I was raised in the San Fernando Valley and spent nearly 25 years as a middle school teacher in Moorpark. My husband and I raised our two children in Agoura Hills, and I was the first mayor of the city.”

The new district would create a more competitive campaign than the two senators have incurred in past state senate elections. The party split would be 41 percent Democrat and 34 percent Republican, according to Redistricting Partners. Pavley, a Democrat, would lose the substantial Democratic majority of her current district (a more than two-to-one edge in Democrats), while Strickland, a Republican, would no longer have the near 50-50 split he currently has in District 19.

The new congressional and state assembly districts for Agoura Hills is seemingly less confusing and contentious than the state senate.

Agoura Hills would remain in Democratic Congressman Harry Waxman’s district. Calabasas, Beverly Hills and a number of coastal cities in western LA County, including Malibu, Santa Monica, Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach and Rancho Palos Verdnes, would also be in the district.

“I have long enjoyed representing Agoura Hills,” Rep. Waxman said in a statement. “I’d be pleased to have the privilege of continuing to represent the citizens of Agoura Hills.”

Agoura Hills’ new assembly district would include other north-west LA County cities of Malibu, Santa Monica, West Hollywood and Beverly Hills. Moorpark would combine with other Ventura County cities such as Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village, Camarillo and Oxnard.

Calabasas would be grouped with San Fernando Valley communities, like Encino, Northridge and West Hills.

Schwarz said he does not expect the commission to change anything and thinks the proposed district maps will pass.

“There’s no logic behind it,” said Schwarz. “Many of the people on that commission, they have no clue about what they’re doing … Some of the commissioners didn’t even know how to pronounce some of the cities. They were never mandated to do anything. They were mandated to get together, mandated to assess—that doesn’t mean they had to do a thing.”