By Tony Hicks
Bay City News Foundation
The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors has unanimously approved a redistricting plan that moves Diablo, Blackhawk and the Camino Tassajara area from Supervisor Diane Burgis’ District 3 to that of District 2 Supervisor Candace Andersen.
The new map expands Andersen’s reach to the east, putting the three Tri-Valley communities into the same district as Danville and San Ramon — cities with which they’re already associated based on geography and demographics.
The new plan puts all of Pinole in Supervisor John Gioia’s District 1. Pittsburg’s Tuscany Meadows moves to Supervisor Federal Glover’s District 5, with Antioch split at Somersville Road and Auto Center Drive, up Railroad Avenue between Glover and Burgis.
Morgan Territory Road area inside the Mount Diablo Unified School District moves to District 4. Concord will be divided at the former railroad right-of-way and highways 4 and 242. District 2 will now extend through Tilden Regional Park, almost to Kensington.
Walnut Creek will split between districts 4 and 2 at Highway 24 and Interstate 680. The Saranap and Castle Hill areas would be in Andersen’s District 2.
Throughout the process, there has been a push from some areas to keep cities intact, which is difficult to do, given the requirements, officials said.
“It may feel like you’re being divided in a way, but there’s actually benefits,” Burgis said at the supervisors’ meeting Tuesday. “Not only are you having two supervisors service a city; Supervisor Glover and I share Antioch, and I don’t say ‘Well, where is that?’ I say ‘Oh, it’s Antioch. I’m going to help them. And I’m sure that that happens with Supervisor Glover as well. We don’t look at the lines.”
Tuesday was the last of five required public hearings before a final plan has to be in place by Dec. 15. Re-drawing of district lines happens every 10 years and is based on U.S. Census numbers.
The 2020 Census showed Contra Costa County growing by 11.35 percent since 2010, from 1,049,025 in 2010 to 1,168,064 residents in 2020.
The biggest population gain came in Burgis’ District 3, with an additional 36,560 residents in the area covering much of Antioch, Oakley, Brentwood, and unincorporated eastern Contra Costa County.
The least amount of growth was in Supervisor Karen Mitchoff’s District 4 (10,442 residents), an area covering Concord, much of Walnut Creek, Pleasant Hill and Clayton.
The goal of the maps is to create districts as equal in population as possible, while meeting federal and state legal guidelines, such as respecting the geographic integrity of an area, or a census-designated place, or local community of interest.
Source: www.mercurynews.com