Item 3 - Ward Redistricting Scenarios

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ECC UGENE ITY OUNCIL AIS GENDA TEM UMMARY Public Hearing: Ward Redistricting Scenarios Meeting Date: September 19, 2011 Agenda Item Number: 3 Department: Central Services/Planning & Development Staff Contact: Keli Osborn www.eugene-or.gov Contact Telephone Number: 541-682-5406 ISSUE STATEMENT This public hearing will collect input on two draft scenarios for redrawing Eugene ward boundaries. The feedback from this meeting, and other public comment and information, can contribute to pending decisions on Eugene’s new ward boundaries. Every 10 years, the Eugene City Council adjusts council ward boundaries to accommodate population changes and shifts – thereby helping ensure equal protection under the law. BACKGROUND Based on available 2010 U.S. Census data, Eugene’s population totaled 156,222. Total population has increased by 18,292, or more than 13 percent, since the population taken for the 2000 Census. To help ensure equal representation, each ward now should have approximately 19,528 residents. An attachment in the packet shows the population differences in Wards 1-8 and what it would take to reach the equal population target. Based on direction from the council, following public outreach and input, staff prepared scenarios that attempt to bring the population for each of the potential new wards to within three percent of the target. The potential wards are relatively compact and contiguous, and the potential boundaries consider geographic and neighborhood features. The residences of incumbent elected officials did not influence the location of boundaries. Scenario summaries Scenario 1: Modest changes  To balance populations, Ward 2 has moved northward into Ward 3; Ward 1 has moved northward, impacting primarily Ward 7; and Ward 7 has shifted into Ward 6, which needed to shrink in size because its population has grown. Scenario 2: Large-scale changes  Wards 1 and 2 shift northward to pick up more population.  Ward 3 moves its north boundary north of the Willamette River to encompass the concentration of young adults in that area as part of a “community of interest” with other campus-area residents.  The main boundary dividing Wards 4 and 5 runs east to west (rather than north to south) largely to accommodate the Ward 3 change and to create a Ward 5 that takes on much of the Santa Clara area. S:\CMO\2011 Council Agendas\M110919\09-19-11 Item 3 - Ward Redistricting Scenarios.doc