Lake Elsinore Weighs Maps Proposed For New Council Districts

LAKE ELSINORE, CA — As Lake Elsinore works to transition from an "at-large" council system to a "by-district" system, leaders are hosting another public hearing. Tuesday evening marks the third of four events.

The city issued the following press release with information about the process:

On Tuesday, January 9, 2018, the City Council will host the third of four public hearings as part of the City’s transition from At-Large to By-District elections. The City Council will discuss and receive public comments regarding two draft district maps and direct staff on their preferred map and district boundaries.

The transition process from At-Large to By-District elections is set forth in the Elections Code. As such, district boundary maps are drawn by a professional demographer in consultation with the City Clerk and City Attorney based on the criteria in law and public input.

The proposed maps were drawn following two previous public hearings held at City Council meetings on November 28th and December 12th. From these hearings, direction was provided to include the following considerations when drawing the district maps:

• Council districts boundaries should strive to include a portion of the lakeshore to the extent feasible
• Council districts boundaries should strive to include a portion of the historic downtown to the extent feasible
• Council districts boundaries should strive to include equal commercial/retail and industrial uses to the extent feasible
• Council districts boundaries should strive to include equal wildlife conservation lands to the extent feasible
• Council districts known to be in areas of higher-than-average population growth since the last census and known to be in areas of higher than average population growth in the years immediately following districting should be under populated as permitted by law

Key criteria required by law includes: each council district must contain a nearly equal population; a districting plan shall be drawn in a manner that complies with the CVRA and Federal Voting Rights Act; and Council districts shall not be drawn with race as the predominate factor.

The following two draft maps have been proposed and will be discussed at the Public Hearing on January 9, 2018:

• Apple 4 Map – Depicting four (4) Council Districts with one (1) at-large seat. Registered voters would vote for the member representing their district only and in addition all voters would vote for the one at-large seat.
• Tan 5 Map – Depicting (5) Council Districts. Registered voters would vote for only the member representing their district.

Each map specifies the proposed election years for each district moving forward. You may also view an interactive map that allows you to view the various criterion layers and magnify the boundaries for greater accuracy.

Residents are urged to attend upcoming public hearings to share their input. If unable to attend, residents may submit their input via email to sdomen@lake-elsinore.org.

The remaining tentative schedule for the public hearings is as follows:

• Council Meeting / Public Hearing #3 January 9, 2018
  
• Council Meeting / Public Hearing #4 TBD – No later than January 23, 2018
• Adoption of Ordinance January 23, 2018

On November 7, 2017, the City Council officially initiated this process by adopting a resolution to begin the process of transitioning to Districts in response to a threat of litigation related to the California Voting Rights Act of 2001 (CVRA). Beginning in the 2018 election, residents will only be allowed to vote for those councilmembers in the district in which they live. Residents will no longer be able to vote for all five councilmembers.

View More Information
January 9, 2018 City Council Staff Report
January 9, 218 City Council Exhibit A

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