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Home My WebLink AboutCOUNCIL - AGENDA ITEM - 07/19/2022 - SECOND READING OF ORDINANCE NO. 084, 2022, AMENDIN Agenda Item 2 Item # 2 Page 1 AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY July 19, 2022 City Council STAFF Anissa Hollingshead, City Clerk Rita Knoll, Chief Deputy City Clerk Carrie Daggett, City Attorney SUBJECT Second Reading of Ordinance No. 084, 2022, Amending the City of Fort Collins District-Precinct Map Following the Decennial Census. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This Ordinance, unanimously adopted on First Reading on July 5, 2022, amends the City’s Council district boundaries following the decennial census in compliance with Section 7 -87 of the City Code, including aligning City precinct boundaries with County precinct boundaries. STAFF RECOMMENDATION Staff recommends adoption of the Ordinance on Second Reading. ATTACHMENTS 1. First Reading Agenda Item Summary, July 5, 2022 (w/o attachments) (PDF) 2. Ordinance No. 084, 2022 (PDF) Agenda Item 18 Item # 18 Page 1 AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY July 5, 2022 City Council STAFF Anissa Hollingshead, City Clerk Rita Knoll, Chief Deputy City Clerk Carrie Daggett, City Attorney SUBJECT First Reading of Ordinance No. 084, 2022, Amending the City of Fort Collins District-Precinct Map Following the Decennial Census. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The purpose of this item is to amend the City’s district boundaries following the decennial census in compliance with Section 7-87 of the City Code, including aligning City precinct boundaries with County precinct boundaries. STAFF RECOMMENDATION Staff recommends adoption of the Ordinance on First Reading with the Council’s selected option for district boundary map. BACKGROUND / DISCUSSION Adjustment of City district boundaries (aka redistricting) must occur following certain triggers in the City Charter, including the decennial census. The deadline to complete this process is 180 days prior to the next regular City election (currently scheduled in April 2023). The City Clerk’s Office has prepared a report outlining the process followed in 2022. (Attachment 1) The Council’s Election Code Committee has been considering options prepared by the City’s GIS Division. Materials first provided at the April 18 Election Code Committee meeting included two initial options for potential new district boundaries. After an initial review, the committee opted to continue consideration of these options at the May 9 meeting, at which time additional reports were provided from the City Clerk outlining the redistricting process and from the Colorado Municipal League on considerations for municipal redistricting in Colorado. The number of options the City’s GIS division was able to produce for consideration was constrained by the requirements of the Charter and Code, including the requirement to use general election precincts established by Larimer County as the building blocks for districts. The two options initially presented were believed to be the only viable alternatives meeting requirements. In re-precincting following the 2020 census, Larimer County created all new (larger) precincts, significantly reducing the total number of precincts within Fort Collins. This reduced number of precincts has been the biggest constraint on developing district options that maintain required population balance. At the May 9 meeting, a third option for district boundaries was presented by a resident and all three map options were reviewed by the Committee. Interest in considering the third option was generally indicated. An additional meeting of the Committee was scheduled for May 31 to allow for further analysis of that option by the City’s GIS, Legal, and City Clerk staff. Following additional analysis, GIS also prepared a fourth option based upon the third option with a shift to one precinct that borders two districts. Option 4 changes the placement of precinct 362 in District 6 for purposes of increased contiguity. (All four options are included as exhibits to the Ordinance. ATTACHMENT 1 COPY Agenda Item 18 Item # 18 Page 2 Late in the process of overall analysis, GIS identified additional issues for the redistricting process with the way the general election precincts were established. In addition to not following City limit boundaries, precincts also divide census blocks in several instances, making obtaining accurate population counts challenging. Because of the timing of this discovery, analysis of the impacts on population totals was not complete prior to the May 31 ECC meeting, requiring the scheduling of another special ECC meeting and a shift to the date for full Council consideration of redistricting to July 5. After GIS completed its review of the precincts that include one or more split census blocks and developed the most accurate population estimates possible with available data, all four options were reevaluated and found to still be within the maximum range of deviation permitted under Charter and Code for population balance. The Election Code Committee has reviewed the four options and forwarded them to the full Council for consideration and selection of the final district boundaries. CITY FINANCIAL IMPACTS There is not anticipated to be a direct financial impact related to the selection at this point of new district boundaries. BOARD / COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION The Election Code Committee has forwarded the four potential district boundary options it considered to the full Council for its determination of which option to select as part of this first reading. (Attachment 2) PUBLIC OUTREACH Public outreach around redistricting has included publication of materials for the Election Code Committee and committee discussion, as well as public comment periods at ECC meetings. The proposed options for district boundaries have also been published on the City’s website, and public notice of the Council’s consideration of these options has occurred consistent with the requirements of City Code. ATTACHMENTS 1. 2022 Redistricting Report (PDF) 2. Election Code Committee Minutes (PDF) 3. Powerpoint Presentation (PDF) COPY -1- ORDINANCE NO. 084, 2022 OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS AMENDING THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS DISTRICT-PRECINCT MAP WHEREAS, Article II, Section 1 of the City Charter requires that the City be divided into six contiguous, reasonably compact City Council districts, each of which shall consist of contiguous, undivided general election precincts, and, to the extent reasonably possible, an equal number of inhabitants; and WHEREAS, pursuant to City Charter, redistricting must be completed not less than 180 days before the next regular election; and WHEREAS, pursuant to City Code Section 7-87(b), not more than 18 months after the official decennial publication of the United States Census concerning the population of Fort Collins, the City Clerk must recommend to the City Council any district boundary changes necessary to ensure that, to the extent reasonably possible, there is no more than a ten-percent (10%) deviation between the most populous and the least populous City Council districts; and WHEREAS, in light of the legal precedents and guidance related to determining voter districts, communities of interest and impacts to ethnic and racial populations are also taken into account in redistricting decisions; and WHEREAS, in light of significant changes to the Larimer County general election precincts, upon which the Council District map must be based, staff recently completed a review of the adjustments required to existing districts to incorporate those changes, seeking to minimize the deviation between the most and least populous City Council districts based on the population data available this year from the 2020 Census; and WHEREAS, pursuant to the above-referenced provisions, the City Clerk presented alternative district boundary changes to the Election Code Committee for consideration and comment, and based on the Committee’s discussion, has presented four alternative district boundary changes for the City Council's consideration; and WHEREAS, from those four alternatives, the City Council has selected an alternative that it believes best serves the interests of the residents of the City and comports with the requirements of the City Charter and Code; and WHEREAS, the district boundary changes are consistent with Larimer County’s general election precinct boundaries as required; and WHEREAS, the City Clerk caused the publication of notices of proposed district boundary amendments to be made in accordance with the requirements of City Code Section 7-87; and WHEREAS, the new Council district-precinct map attached as Exhibit “A” depicts adjusted precinct boundaries and adjusted Council district boundaries. -2- NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS as follows: Section 1. That the City Council hereby makes and adopts the determinations and findings contained in the recitals set forth above. Section 2. That the district-precinct map dated July 5, 2022, a copy of which is attached as Exhibit “A” and incorporated herein by this reference, is hereby adopted and shall be in effect for the following purposes: (1) determining eligibility for City Council offices for the 2023 regular municipal election; and (2) determining eligibility of any interim appointments to fill any City Council vacancies which may occur following the effective date of this Ordinance. Introduced, considered favorably on first reading, and ordered published this 5th day of July, A.D. 2022, and to be presented for final passage on the 19th day of July, A.D. 2022. Mayor ATTEST: City Clerk Passed and adopted on final reading this 19th day of July, A.D. 2022. Mayor ATTEST: City Clerk ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^S COLLEGE AVE W HORSETOOTH RD W MULBERRY ST S SHIELDS STLAPORTE AVE S TIMBERLINE RDS LEMAY AVESTRAUSSCABIN RDZIEGLERRDRIV E R S ID E AV E S OVERLAND TRLW DRAKE RD E PROSPECT RD W WILLOX LN S TAFT HILL RDW VINE DR COUNTRY CLUB RD E V INE DR RICHARDS LAKE RD W MOUNTAIN AVE E W I LLOXLN E TRILBY RD W PROSPECT RD E COUNTY ROAD 38 E MULBERRY ST JE F F E R S O N S T E DOUGLAS RD COUNTY ROAD 54G N LEMAY AVEN COLLEGE AVEWCOUNTYROAD 38E E COUNTY ROAD 50MOUNTAIN V I S T A D R N TIMBERLINE RDTERRYLAKERDG R E G O R Y R D KECHTER RDN SHIELDS STS COUNTY ROAD 5E HORSETOOTH RD STATE HIGHWAY 392 W HARMONY RD W DOUGLAS RDN U S H I G HW A Y 2 8 7 NOVERLANDTRLE COUNTY ROAD 36 MAIN STW TRILBY RD E DRAKE RD E L I NC O L N A VE S COUNTY ROAD 13CARPENTER RD E COUNTY ROAD 52 S COUNTY ROAD 11S SUMM I T V I E W D R S US HIGHWAY 287N COUNTY ROAD 17E COUNTY ROAD 48 N COUNTY ROAD 5NTAFTHILLRDS COUNTY ROAD 19S COUNTY ROAD 9E COUNTY ROAD 54 N COUNTY ROAD 9E HARMONY RD District 2 District 5 District 4 District 6 District 1 District 3 407 400 690 355 490 390 368 369 301 603 606 600 601 602 205 693 103 206 343 306 300 104 309 311 329 336 335 328 330 334 326348 349 337 338 314327 315 352 351 353 354 331 332 333 356 357 350 347 365 364 360 345 342 346 340 321 341 322 211 209 210 325 317 316324 366 358 359 367 307 310 313 312 308 323 339 362 344 363 361 303 320 319 318 305 304 302 Exhibit A Printed: June 08, 2022 Redistricting Option 3 District 1 District 2 District 3 District 4 District 5 District 6 County Precinct ^Council Member Locations 1 28302 28675 101.3%1.3% 2 28302 28504 100.7%0.7% 3 28302 27343 96.6%-3.4% 4 28302 29229 103.3%3.3% 5 28302 28807 101.8%1.8% 6 28302 27252 96.3%-3.7% District Ideal Population Total Population Percentage of Ideal Percentage From Ideal 169,810 28,302 -3.7%3.3%7% Total Population Ideal District Populaion Lowest Change Highest Change Maximum Deviation 362PrecinctID: