The City of Carlsbad’s Independent Redistricting Commission got its first look at draft City Council district maps at its meeting last week. National Demographics Corporation, the city’s demographer, went over 28 draft maps submitted by the public and four draft maps it created.
 
  • Each map showed a different way to balance out the voting age population among the four City Council districts.
  • Even though the City of Carlsbad switched to electing City Council members by district in 2017, the districts were created based on the latest Census data at the time which was from 2010.
  • Since that time, some parts of the city have grown more than others.
 
Different approaches
  • Some maps made small changes to existing City Council boundaries.
  • Some had part of the city’s coastline in each district, and one had the coastline all in one district.
  • One map divided the city into quadrants, using El Camino Real and Palomar Airport Road as the main dividing line, although to balance the population, the boundaries deviated from those main streets in some areas.

All draft maps reviewed during the meeting are available in the agenda packet. Additional maps will be added to the city’s website as they are submitted to the commission.

What’s next
  • The Independent Redistricting Commission will hold a public hearing Jan. 13 at 6 p.m. to get input on maps.
  • One additional hearing is planned for Feb. 17.
  • The deadline to choose a map is April 17, 2022.

How to submit a map
The commission will hold two hearings and one more business meeting before selecting a map. It will review and discuss draft maps submitted by the public and the city’s demographer at each of those meetings. Maps created by members of the public will be evaluated by the city’s professional demographer. Maps submitted by the deadlines below will be evaluated prior to the corresponding meeting. All maps will be shared with the Independent Commission and the public, whether or not they were submitted by the deadline for evaluation.
How to create maps
 
Online: Residents can draw maps using Districtr or Maptitude, online mapping tools that let you draw just your community or all four districts. Both tools have the final, adjusted census data. They be found on the City of Carlsbad website.

Please note, you'll be prompted to make an account when you start to use Maptitude. This allows you to save your work and draw your map over multiple sessions.

Paper: Maps can also be created using a paper mapping kit and an excel spreadsheet.
Upcoming meetings

Here’s what’s coming up:
Jan. 13, 2022 - Third public hearing to give feedback on draft maps
Jan. 27, 2022 - Independent Redistricting Commission reviews maps and discusses its process for reviewing and selecting maps.

About the commission

The Carlsbad City Council decided to appoint an independent commission to make the final decision about a new City Council district map. Members were chosen from applications at random based on criteria established by state and the City Council. The commission has regular meetings that are open to the public. You can see the schedule here. 
Get updates by text

To get redistricting updates on your phone, text the word “districts” to
760-302-5500.
More information