2011-09-09 Study subcommittee - Laserfiche WebLink

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CITY OF UNIVERSITY CITY COUNCIL COUNCIL’S SUB-COMMITTEE STUDY SESSION September 6, 2011 A study session of the City Council subcommittee on redistricting was brought to order by Mayor Shelley Welsch at 6:00 p.m. in the EOC Room of City Hall on September 6, 2011. Also in attendance were Councilmembers Byron Price, Michael Glickert and Stephen Kraft; City Manager Lehman Walker; Director of Community Development Andrea Riganti, Deputy Director of Planning and Zoning Raymond Lai and Planner Zachariah Greatens. The purpose of the study session was to discuss redistricting ward boundary lines in respect to the 2010 Census population numbers. The 2000 population count of University City was 37,428 and the population count of the 2010 Census was 35,310. With the new census numbers the three wards are not s equally sized, However, the difference in size between the largest and smallest ward falls below unacceptable ten percent deviation.. If the deviation is below ten percent it is not required to adjust the ward boundary lines although the subcommittee can still choose to do so. This rule is according to the Equal th Protection Clause of the 14 Amendment, “Substantial equality of population among various districts” or <10 percent deviation. If all three wards had equal population the 2010 population of each ward would be 11,770. It was noted that the precinct boundaries were slightly modified between 2000 and 2010 by St. Louis County Board of Election. The 2010 Precinct boundaries should be used for consideration of redistricting. It was also noted that precinct boundaries should not be changed as a result of redistricting. The Department of Community Development provided four map guides: Map 1 – by Precinct 2000 Map 2 – population by Precinct 2010 Map 3 – population change by Precinct 2000 – 2010 and Map 4 – map from St. Louis County Board of Elections showing 2010 Census Blocks and Precincts boundaries. Ms. Riganti noted that the following for redistricting suggested criteria in William Geary‘s article “Redistricting in 2011: A Brief Summary for Local Government Officials” from the Missouri Municipal Review to consider for redistricting: 1. Population Equality 2. Compact districts of contiguous territory 3. Retention of neighborhood boundaries 4. Retention of precinct boundaries 5. Retention of other community of interests 6. Desire to retain historic boundaries 7. Consideration of incumbency 1