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Gilroy holds third public hearing on districting; redistricting consultant offers three draft maps and public maps elevated for council review
Summary
At the third required public hearing on transitioning from at‑large to district elections, the city's demographer presented three draft plans based on public input; the council elevated a public submission (JH05) to draft status and asked the consultant to explore small adjustments to increase Latino CVAP in one district.
The Gilroy City Council held the third of five public hearings on April 14 as part of the city’s transition from at‑large to district elections. Redistricting Partners presented three draft maps derived from public submissions and testimony and explained the principal tradeoffs between equal population, contiguity, compactness and preserving communities of interest.
Consultant Liz Stitt summarized trends from 27 public maps: broad public support for keeping the East Side communities intact, varying approaches to splitting or preserving West Side neighborhoods and use of Hecker Pass Highway as a dividing line in some designs. Draft maps A, B and C differ primarily on whether the East Side is preserved as a single district, split north/south, or combined in other ways; all three draft maps had total population deviations under the 10% target and each showed four districts where Latino citizen voting‑age population (CVAP) exceeded 50%.
Councilmembers and the public asked the consultant to provide maps with clearer street names on the public PDFs and confirmed that additional public maps submitted on Districtr can be elevated to draft status at council request. During the hearing councilmembers discussed schedule options and a desire to allow more time between the fourth and final hearings; staff confirmed the process remains within the state’s required 90‑day timeline.
Members of the public and several councilmembers urged preserving identifiable neighborhoods on the East Side, noting long‑term residency, shared school attendance and local infrastructure needs. Several residents asked council to consider public maps JH05 and JH07; councilmember(s) requested that JH05 (ID 289301) be elevated as draft map D for further analysis. The consultant noted JH05 currently shows three districts above 50% Latino CVAP and that an adjustment could push a fourth district over the 50% CVAP threshold.
No final map was adopted at this hearing; council and staff directed the demographer to prepare additional map variants, post revised maps at least seven days before the next hearing, and continue to collect public submissions. The council discussed moving the final vote later in May to allow more time for review; staff said that option would remain within the statutory timeframe.
