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Politics & Government

Board of Supervisors to Address District Boundaries

The board Is expected to select a map determining which regions supervisors will represent at Tuesday's meeting.

The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors is expected to select a map tomorrow that will define the boundaries of jurisdiction for each supervisor.

But compared to other redistricting decisions being considered that may significantly alter which region certain elected officials will represent in the future, the maps that the supervisors are considering will likely only have a nominal impact.

According to county spokesman Marshall Wilson, the board is expected to select one of the three following boundary scenarios:

1. The San Mateo Highlands and the western portion of the City of San Mateo moves from District 1 under Supervisor Dave Pine to District 2 under Supervisor Carole Groom. This would decreasing the District 1 population by approximately 7,736 to 136,012 residents and increase the District 2 population 157,010.

2. Portions of southern Belmont move from District 2 to District 3 under Don Horsley, reducing the District 2 population, and increasing the District 3 population, by approximately 5,406.

3. Keep the current boundaries the same.

Under the final scenario, the district boundaries are based on, and described by, 2010 census block groups. This could cause some areas to formally move from one district to another, but without any net effect on the currently identified district population distribution, Wilson said.

According to census data, currently 143,748 people live in District 1, 149,274 people live in District 2, 138,578 people live in District 3, 143,443 people live in District 4 and 143,408 people live in District 5.

Marshall noted there is between a 3.5% and 5% margin for error regarding all population data.

The state election code requires all counties in California to readjust district boundaries in order to make each region a similar size in terms of population, according to the most recent census data, by October 1.

The board is set to select a map at Tuesday's meeting that will determine boundaries for the next 10 years.

The set of selected boundaries will then go into effect on November 1.

The selection will culminate months worth of discussion and input from community members across the county about how boundary lines should be drawn.

Beginning in June, a committee that included supervisors Adrienne Tissier and Rose Jacobs Gibson began taking comments from county residents on what the boundaries would look like.

Many residents said that the maps should avoid splitting cities, and they opposed boundaries being drawn to divide richer and poorer communities. As well, some said they did want to see too many changes because people are familiar with the current boundaries, according to a county report summarizing input from the community.

Based on the input from residents, Chief Deputy County Counsel Lee Thompson put forth six possible scenarios illustrating what the new boundaries may look like.

CWilson said that though the public didn't want cities to be split, it didn't seem possible to balance the population between districts without doing so.

He said the maps illustrating the scenarios have not yet been drawn.

Tissier and Jacobs Gibson then selected three of the six proposed scenarios as the best possible options. The Board of Supervisors is expected to select one of the the final three at the meeting tomorrow.

The board is also expected to consider regulations put forth by the state elections code regarding boundaries, which states that supervisors "may give consideration to the following factors: (a) topography, (b) geography, (c) cohesiveness, contiguity, integrity, and compactness of territory, and (d) community of interests of the districts."

The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors will meet at 9 a.m. Tuesday morning in the Board Chambers located at 400 County Center in Redwood City.

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