Council May Approve New District Map Tonight

After months of tweaking and public debate, the Elk Grove City Council tonight will potentially draw new lines forming voting districts, and decide whether the revised district map will be put to a public vote.

The council is considering two possible maps. With the approval of either option, Councilmember Sophia Scherman’s district will be absorbed into Councilmember Patrick Hume’s district, possibly forcing her to run against Hume in an upcoming election. Scherman has announced her candidacy for state assembly, and could also run for mayor in the next election, either way avoiding a race against Hume.

The city is adopting new district maps after 2010 census data revealed inequities in population in voting districts. At the same time, the city is revising its district boundaries to comply with Measure K, approved by voters last year, which calls for consolidating the current five districts into four and directly electing a mayor at-large.

Citizens submitted 30 maps for review and by last month, the council had whittled the choices down to two plans, similar except for the Laguna Ridge area, a wide expanse of largely undeveloped land in southwest Elk Grove.

Now the council must decide whether to place Laguna Ridge in District 2 with the newly developed Poppy Ridge community, or in District 3 with its older rural neighbors in north central Elk Grove east of Highway 99.

The council will also decide if the new map gets the council’s final stamp of approval tonight, or if the map needs to be placed on a special election ballot, possibly in June 2012, to the tune of $45,000 to $65,000.

“Laguna Ridge is the swing piece of the puzzle,” said city clerk Jason Lindgren.

Since Laguna Ridge and Poppy Ridge were planned at the same time and have similar challenges and strengths, many believe Laguna Ridge should be placed in District 2, Lindgren said. Putting it in District 3, however, makes use of the obvious boundary line of Highway 99.

Unpredictable economic conditions affecting the construction industry make it tricky to determine how the neighborhood will evolve in terms of population or demographics, Lindgren said.

“Laguna Ridge isn’t developed, it’s just a big expanse of land,” he said. “There’s a lot of speculation about who’s going to live there, but it’s hard to predict what the community will be like at buildout. The city may create a south Elk Grove culture or a corridor culture.”

At their June 8 meeting, the council voted unanimously for Map 9, which would place Laguna Ridge in District 2 along with areas currently represented by Councilmember Gary Davis. Scherman and Hume then called for Map 1, placing Laguna Ridge in District 3 with neighborhoods currently represented by Councilmember Steve Detrick, to also be considered tonight. The rest of the council agreed.

Neither Scherman nor Hume could be reached for comment by press time.

Councilmember Gary Davis said he would vote tonight for merging Laguna Ridge with the East Franklin area.

“These are similar neighborhoods, new developments planned around the same time, so they have similar issues,” he said. “Rural Sheldon couldn’t be any more different. The rural area is older, they’re on wells and septic tanks, they have different issues. They are almost opposites.”

Mayor Steve Detrick said both maps will work well, especially since voters will still vote for all council seats and the mayor.

“The benefit of Map 1 is that the boundaries are clearly defined, but Map 9 keeps the eastern, older sections of Elk Grove, and keeps the newer sections west of 99 together,” he said.

City staff is also asking the council to decide if voters should approve the map. State election code allows the council to approve the map tonight, but the decision could be open to legal challenge, Lindgren said.

That's because of a conflict in the law: State government code requires the council to place the district map on the ballot. Lindgren said the city would piggyback on the June 2012 primary if necessary, allowing a new map to be approved by July when city council hopefuls begin filing for candidacy.

Davis said he wants to finalize the map tonight.

“We had a public process for drafting these new maps,” Davis said. “I think it would be a waste of time and resources to do anything other than adopt the map.”