Politics & Government

Details Announced On Riverside County's Redistricting; Public To Weigh In

Boundaries for Supervisor Bob Buster's District 1 would need to be redrawn to add another 15,601 residents -- District 1 currently includes Lake Elsinore and Wildomar.

6/14 UPDATE: Two proposals on how to redraw supervisorial district boundaries based on the last census were accepted today by Riverside County supervisors, who set a June 28 public hearing to gather input on which recommended change is the most viable.

The county's Redistricting Steering Committee, which included Assessor-Clerk-Recorder Larry Ward, Executive Office staff and representatives from each supervisor's office, drafted the proposed changes after a number of community
meetings in the western and eastern ends of the county.

The new boundaries will determine the shapes of districts for the next 10 years.

Find out what's happening in Lake Elsinore-Wildomarwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The steering committee came up with two "working maps'' based on topography, geography, contiguity and "communities of interests'' within the districts, according to county officials.

The proposed changes are generally the same for districts 3, 4 and 5. However, there remain unresolved questions about the configuration of districts 1 and 2 and how they should be split.

Find out what's happening in Lake Elsinore-Wildomarwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Supervisor Bob Buster represents the first district, and Supervisor John Tavaglione the second.

According to Tom Mullen with the county's Transportation & Land Management Agency, one proposal would take the area around the 60/91/215 interchange, as well as the community of Highgrove, out of the fifth district and wedge it into the second.

The second proposal would divide the first and second districts in the Victoria Woods area of Riverside and put the Arlanza and Arlington neighborhoods in Buster's district. Tavaglione noted today that the area has traditionally been in his district.

There appeared to be no controversy in the proposed reconfiguration of Supervisor John Benoit's fourth district, which would be expanded to encompass Desert Hot Springs, North Palm Springs and an unincorporated area on the eastern approach to the Coachella Valley -- all of which are currently in the fifth district, represented by Supervisor Marion Ashley.

Decennial census figures published in March showed Riverside County had swelled by more than 644,000 people -- an increase of 42 percent -- between 2000 and 2010, the fastest population growth in California during that period.

Redistricting is required under state law after every 10-year census.

The target for each supervisorial district is 437,928 residents. That number is not supposed to vary by more than 10 percent between the least and most populated districts. However, the redistricting committee capped the margin at 5 percent.

According to county officials, to stay within the targeted range:
   -- Buster's District 1 boundaries would need to be changed to add another 15,601 residents;
   -- Tavaglione's District 2 would need to add 30,657 people;
   -- Supervisor Jeff Stone's District 3 would need to drop 79,925 residents;
   -- Benoit's District 4 would need to add 41,349 people; and
   -- Ashley's District 5 would need to shrink by 7,683 residents.

The June 28 hearing at the County Administrative Center in Riverside will be followed by at least one additional public meeting.

The board is slated to approve the boundary changes by Sept. 30.

More information about redistricting is available at http://www.rivcoredistricting.org. --City News Service

6/14 ORIGINAL POST: On Friday, the 14-member California Redistricting Commission released draft plans for the state’s 53 congressional districts, 40 state senate districts and 80 state assembly districts, as well as districts for the state Board of Equalization, which handles taxation issues. (See those draft plans )

Today, Riverside County supervisors are slated to review details regarding how their supervisorial district boundaries will be re-configured based on the last U.S. census.

Redistricting is done every 10 years as required by federal law. It is done after new information on population is released in the 10-year-census.  The results of the 2010 census were released this Spring.

The target for each supervisorial district is 437,928 residents. That number is not supposed to vary by more than 10 percent between the least and most populated districts.

According to county officials, to stay within the required margins:

-- Boundaries for Supervisor Bob Buster's District 1 would need to be redrawn to add another 15,601 residents -- District 1 currently includes Lake Elsinore and Wildomar;

-- Supervisor John Tavaglione's District 2 would need to add 30,657 people;
-- Supervisor Jeff Stone's District 3 would need to drop 79,925 residents;

-- Supervisor John Benoit's District 4 would need to add 41,349 people; and
-- Supervisor Marion Ashley's District 5 would need to shrink by 7,683 residents.

Decennial census figures published in March showed Riverside County had swelled by more than 644,000 people -- an increase of 42 percent – between 2000 and 2010. The county recorded the fastest population growth in California.

The county's Redistricting Steering Committee has drafted changes that will be the subject of three public hearings following today's meeting. The new boundaries will determine the shapes of districts for the next 10 years.

The steering committee came up with two “working maps'' based on topography, geography, contiguity and “communities of interests'' within the districts, according to county officials.

The proposed changes are generally the same for districts 3, 4 and 5.

However, there remain unresolved questions about the configuration of districts 1 and 2 and how they should be split in the city of Riverside.

The board will hold a general public hearing on June 28 at the County Administrative Center, and two community hearings are tentatively set for July 12 and July 26, with times and locations to be announced.

The board is required to approve the boundary changes by Sept. 30.

More information about redistricting is available at www.rivcoredistricting.org. --City News Service contributed to this report


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here