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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-12-16; Independent Redistricting Commission; MinutesINDEPENDENT REDISTRICTING COMMISSION Regular Meeting Minutes Dec. 16, 2021, 4 p.m. CALL TO ORDER: 4 p.m. Council Chamber . 1200 Carlsbad Village Drive Carlsbad, CA 92008 ROLL CALL: Fabiano, Stanley, Ashton, Harris, Sardina, Cadwallader, Arndt. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Commission Member Stanley led the Pledge of Allegiance. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Minutes of the Regular Meeting held Oct. 28, 2021 Motion by Vice Chair Stanley, seconded by Commission Member Arndt, to approve the Minutes of the Regular Meeting held October 28, 2021. Motion carried -7 /0. PUBLIC COMMENT: None. DEPARTMENT REPORTS: 1., OVERVIEW OF ADOPTED 2021-2029 HOUSING ELEMENT -Receive an informational presentation overviewing the General Plan 2021-2029 Housing Element. (Staff Contact: Scott Donnell, Community Development) Senior Planner Scott Donnell reviewed the PowerPoint presentation (on file in the Office of the City Clerk): In response to an inquiry from Commission Member Cadwallader, Mr. Donnell stated the Housing Element dated April 2021 was the latest plan. In response to Vice Chair Stanley's inquiry, Mr. Donnell explained that the approved project numbers were probably not included in the commission's current unit count as some of the projects have not been constructed. Assistant City Attorney Cindie McMahon stated that NDC demographer Shannon Kelly may be able to answer Vice Chair Stanley's question. Commission Member Ashton asked about the removal of limitations f0,r housing buildout and about the number of different developments in the city that accommodate the affordable housing requirement. Mr. Donnell explained that the city's Growth Management Plan was established in 1986 by voters and most of the provisions of that includes infrastructure. He explained the state requirement that Carlsbad eliminate the growth caps of the Growth Management Plan, why only 10-20% of affordable housing units are built in a development, and the state Dec. 16,2021 Independent Redistricting Commission Special Meeting Page 2 requirement the city must follow to ensure that housing for all economic segments, whether low, moderate or above moderate income are spread throughout the community. Commission Member Ashton inquired about who paid the financial subsidy for the low- income housing. Mr. Donnell explain.ed how developers pay the subsidy through the city's lnclusionary Housing Program. Commission Member Ashton inquired if developers subsidize the affordable housing units for the life of the project or if the units are subsidized only when first built. Mr. Donnell explained that affordable rental projects have a rental restriction of 55 years and must remain affordable to lower income families for that length of time. He added that for ownership projects, the restriction is 30 years. In response to an inquiry from Commission Member Ashton, Mr. Donnell explained that the . affordable housing rent and ownership restrictions are placed on the title of the property. Chair Fabiano asked if the maps the commission is reviewing can have information from the accepted projects on them to see where the approved projects are located. Commission Member Cadwallader, referring to the table that indicated proposed and accepted projects, said most of the growth is in Districts 1, 2 and 3. She added the commission might consider making District 4 on the plus side and leave room for growth in the other three districts. No public comment was received on this item. 2. REVIEW OF DRAFT MAPS -Receive a presentation from National Demographics Corporation overviewing the draft maps submitted by members of the public received by December 1 and the draft maps prepared by National Demographics corporation and review next steps in the redistricting process. (Staff Contact: Faviola Medina, City Clerk's Offic~) Shannon Kelly reviewed a PowerPoint Presentation (on file in the office of the City Clerk). The following individual called into the meeting and voiced their comment for the record: Kris Wright thanked commissioners for their hard work. She explained that she lives in District 2 but should be in District 1 based on her community. She hoped that north Carlsbad receives more attention to the roads like El Camino Real and school districts including Kelly Drive. Ms. Wright added that she submitted a map she thought was really close and that her map keeps Bressi Ranch and Rancho Carlsbad together, draws a line along Cannon Road to the bottom and uses the majority of El Camino Real as a major dividing point. She requested the commission look at north Carlsbad a little more closely. Dec. 16,2021 Independent Redistricting Commission Special Meeting Page 3 Chair Fabiano asked if it was possible to put the current council members' addresses on the maps. Ms. Kelly responded that she could indicate current council members' residence locations on the draft maps. Ms. McMahon reminded the commission that incumbency is not permitted to be considered when drawing the district boundaries. In response to Chair Fabiano's inquiry, Ms. McMahon explained that the commission is also not permitted to consider political parties when drawing district boundaries. Chair Fabiano stated that the state criteria provided by NDC say that the boundaries are not supposed to favor a political party. Ms. Kelly replied that was correct and added that the guidelines also state consideration of boundaries were not supposed to favor or advance a political party. In response to an inquiry from Chair Fabiano, Ms. Kelly explained that if voter registration · were overlaid on a map, not considering incumbency, but moving democrats and republicans around would also be an example of using a political party, and is not considered by NDC. Commission Member Cadwallader asked about the map submitted by Ms. Wright, stating it was not in the agenda packet for this meeting. Ms. Kelly reminded the commission of the Dec. 1, 2021 transfer of the maps created in the District R mapping program to the Maptitude program. She suggested that Ms. Wright's map may have been submitted after Dec. 1. In response to an inquiry from Commission Member Cadwallader, Ms. Kelly explained that a stat sheet will be included for all public maps at the commission's next meeting. Commission Member Cadwallader questioned if it was possible to see the school district boundaries at the local elementary schools and the neighborhoods they draw on. Ms. Kelly provided an explanation of the maps NDC provided. Chair Fabiano suggested that Commission Member Cadwallader check the maps on the Carlsbad Unified School District website. Commission Member Cadwallader stated that the map resources on the city's website were not working correctly. She added that she would like to see more maps that have a plus · statistic for District 4. In response to an inquiry from Vice Chair Stanley, Ms. Kelly explained that the deviation on NDC map 101 was a little over 6%. Dec. 16,2021 Independent Redistricting Commission Special Meeting Page4 In response to an inquiry from Vice Chair Stanley, Ms. McMahon explained that the election for city council seats representing Districts 1 and 3 will take place in 2022 using the newly drawn district boundary map. She further explained that the election for council seats for Districts 2 and 4 will be held in 2024 using the same district boundary map used for the 2022 election. In response to an inquiry from Commission Member Harris, Ms. Kelly said the commission will need to decide how to proceed to choose maps to consider and make the final decision. Commission Member Ashton inquired if the questions submitted via email by Commission Cadwallader on Nov. 23, 2021 were answered. Ms. Kelly responded that answers to Commission Member Cadwallader's questions were still pending. Commission Member Ashton inquired if Mr. Cohen received a response to his question of Nov. 24, 2021 regarding updating his maps in Maptitude. City Clerk Services Manager Faviola Medina replied that she did have a phone conversation with Mr. Cohen and discussed his questions and provided answers and that there was no email response. In response to an inquiry from Commission Member Ashton, Ms. Kelly explained that all of the District R maps will contain the updated data when NDC analyzes and presents them at the public hearing. She added that all of the maps created in the District R program including Mr. Cohen's were well within the equal population balance and NDC did not thirik there was an issue. She further added that these maps include stats with updated data. In response to an inquiry from Commission Member Ashton, Ms. Kelly explained that the general public who created maps were only permitted to work with the new census data in Maptitude. Commission Member Ashton questioned if Mr. Hardisty received a response to his email. Ms. Medina explained that Mr. Hardisty did receive a response from NDC which will be included in the commission's next packet. Commission Member Ashton explained that she had concerns regarding the cutoff date a member of the public can submit a map to be considered by the commission at its next meeting. She inquired what the cutoff date is for a map to be submitted to allow NDC to analyze and prepare for commission consideration at its next meeting. Ms. McMahon explained that in determining the schedule, staff considered when they were required to provide the commission with its agenda packet for the meeting, allotted time for NDC to conduct its analytical work, and then the city's communications team assists in Dec. 16, 2021 Independent Redistricting Commission Special Meeting Page 5 communicating to the public when the cutoff date is. She explained that the meeting on Jan. 13, 2022 has a five-day lead time, so staff backdates from that. She further explained that while there is a deadline for NDC to evaluate and analyze maps, staff has attempted to communicate that any map submitted as public comment will be provided to the commission even though it has not been analyzed. Chair Fabiano inquired if there was a specific date to provide to the public to submit maps for NDC analyzation to present for commission consideration at its Jan. 13, 2022 meeting. Ms. Medina replied that she would work with communications to make that information available. In response to an inquiry from Commission Member Ashton, Ms. Kelly explained that the process was an iterative ongoing process and that any map th~t is received by the first Monday in January (Jan. 3) will receive a full analysis. She added that the commission will. be provided a packet that has every submitted map including ones from this meeting for the next public hearing on January 13, 2022. She explained that the commission needs to decide how it wants to review the maps. She added that NDC can provide additional draft maps that will include comments of what the commission would like to see and that the commission \ will again conduct this process of reviewing additional draft maps at the Jan. 27, 2022 commission meeting, as well as during the public hearing in February. In response to Commission Member Ashton's inquiry about what the public would be receiving at the public hearing in January, Ms. Kelly explained that the public will see a- presentation, a full set of maps with a full analysis including demographic information for those maps received up to the cutoff date. She added her job was to help put the maps together in groups. In response to an inquiryfrom Commission Member Ashton, Ms. Medina confirmed that Jan. 3, 2022 was the cutoff date for the public to submit maps to receive NDC analysis for the commission to review at its Jan. 13, 2022 public hearing. Discussion ensued regarding the cutoff for the public to submit maps for commission consideration. Discussion ensued regarding the colo.rs of different districts on maps created on the District R mapping program and distr~Gt numbers. Commission Member Ashton explained that she had reviewed the survey responses and comments and listed the items in order she calculated were the most important to Carlsbad citizens and what they idE:!ntified with based on the information provided in the survey. In response to Council Member Sardina's inquiry, Ms. Kelly responded that this was hard to measure the compactness, but it is listed as an important component. She added that there is no formula to use and the District R mapping program does not have this capability. She further added that Maptitude does have an algorithm not accessible by the public, that will Dec.16,2021 Independent Redistricting Commission Special Meeting Page 6 perform some measure of compactness and it is such a difficult process to understand that NDC does not report it as a measure. She explained that once the commission has set of draft maps that it likes, NDC will review from a reasonable compactness standpoint. In response to an inquiry from Commission Member Sardina, Ms. Kelly explained that the boundaries on the map are not as one sees. She added that NDC could provide a written description, and if this was a valuable component for the commission to have this listed on all maps, NDC would have to review to see if it is possible. She further added that NDC could provide the boundary descriptions on its draft maps. Discussion ensued between Commission Member Sardina and Chair Fabiano on submitted neighborhood maps and potential commission review or consideration. Commission Member Sardina and Ms. McMahon confirmed what districts council seats were up for the 2022 election and how the new district map may affect incumbents. In response to an inquiry from Commission Member Ashton, Ms. McMahon confirmed that a person running for council must live in the district they want to represent. Commission discussion ensued regarding the possible transition of elected officials. Chair Fabiano inquired if it was possible to identify which ce_nsus blocks by number are in each district on a proposed map. Ms. Kelly explained that it was possible as this information is provided to the Registrar of Voters on the final map. She added that she would like to have NDC staff review how to determine the best process. She advised that at some point there may be a requirement to split a block which NDC would have to caveat. She indicated that she would get back to the commission. Commission Member Ashton asked Ms. Kelly for clarification of the numbers in the population unit areas on the paper maps. Ms. Kelly responded that those numbers were aggregated census block numbers. Commission Member Cadwallader expressed that the difference between aggregated population units and actual census block numbers was an interesting concept to her in that it meant the answer to her questions in her Nov. 23, 2021 email about splitting up units 20 and 82 might be possible. Ms. Kelly confirmed that splitting census block numbers may be possible but that she was unable to say how precise it would be and how it would be completed. In response to an inquiry from Commission Member Cadwallader, Chair Fabiano requested that the process to choose maps become an agenda item for the next business meeting of the commission on Jan. 27, 2022. Dec. 16,2021 Independent Redistricting Commission Special Meeting Page 7 3. PUBLIC INPUT RECEIVED IN THE REDISTRICTING PROCESS -Receive and discuss public input received from Nov. 14 through Dec. 8, 2021. (Staff Contact: Kristina Ray, Communication & Engagement Department) The following individual called into the meeting and voiced their comment for the record: John User explained to the commission and public how to paint and control the color on the maps. Communication & Engagement Department Director Kristina Ray and Community Relations Manager Bree Robertoy introduced the item and were available to answer commission members' questions. In response to an inquiry from Chair Fabiano, Ms. Ray confirmed that she could provide an update to the commission on the public outreach and advertisements in writing before the commission's next meeting. Commission Member Cadwallader inquired if staff was going to tally the survey responses that have been received. Ms. Ray responded that she was unclear the commission asked for the tally. She added staff doesn't analyze the data in a definitive way and that it would only be representative of people who have chosen to comment. In response to an inquiry from Commission Member Ashton, Ms. Ray and Ms. Robertoy confirmed that the survey would be made available for the duration of the redistricting process. In response to an inquiry from Commission Member Sardina regarding a comment from Aaron Neilson, Chair Fabiano explained that the commission had not made any decision and was still considering all of the maps, comments and information it received from the public. STAFF AND COMMITTEE MEMBER REQUESTS FOR FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS: ANNOUNCEMENTS: None. CITY ATTORNEY COMMENTS: None. ADJOURNMENT: Chair Fabiano adjourned the duly noticed meeting at 6:20 p.m. Sher Fr isinger Deputy 0( ty Clerk .