Redistricing Committee Goes Back to the Drawing Board

With a deadline looming, the city's Community Redistricting Advisory Committee made a bold decision Tuesday night to scrap the changes to city council district they've been mulling over and instead tweak a resident-produced map.

The new map denoting the seven city council districts is set to be reviewed by the council Sept. 13. It's required because US Census figures noted changes to population distribution inside the city limits, largely due to new home construction in the past 10 years.

“Basically what we want to have is a redistricting plan where the most populated district and the least populated district doesn’t go over a certain percent," consultant Joaquin Avila told the committee, adding the deviation should not go above 10 percent.

Nick Bulaich drew the sought-after map. He threw out many of the established district divisions in favor of adhering to main thoroughfare's in the city.

“I’ve lived in this town a long time. I have a good understanding of the districts, the interests. My goal was to have the major streets as the dividing line," Bulaich said. “No sinister plot here whatsoever. I was just trying to get some clear lines.”

Some committee members and residents raised concerns about splitting up neighborhoods and "communities of interest" that may encompass geographic features—like the hilly area in the middle of town—apartment complexes or home owners associations, including the Bay Village retirement community that fought last month to maintain its community within District 7.

Bulaich's plan preserves Bay Village but puts Mayor Daniel Dodge, of District 5, into District 2, which currently belongs to Councilman Oscar Rios. Although pitting incumbents against one another is not frowned upon in this process, the committee agreed early on to avoid that scenario.

The committee sent Bulaich's map, dubbed Plan 5, back to city staff to fiddle with the boundaries so Dodge and Rios aren't vying for the same seat.

Dodge was critical of the committee's decision, saying he had hoped the mapping recommendation would be based on the current districts and not subject residents to a massive overhaul. Redistricting to incumbents, he added, was poor form.

"You disenfranchise the vote of the people," Dodge said.

The committee voted 5-2 in favor of Bulaich's plan. Committee member Rebecca Garcia, from District 5, was one of the dissenting votes.

She backed Plan 2, a map that made minor adjustments to current city council boundaries to meet the redistricting requirements while protecting Bay Village.

"It really maintains neighborhoods … those districts have become communities of interest," Garcia said of Plan 2.

The committee will meet again Aug. 24 to go over the new map. They also have the leeway to dump Bulaich's map and choose another design for the city council districts, or one of the older versions. Bulaich's is the fifth map the committee has looked at.