[July 15, 2011] Stanislaus redistricting options unveiled Tweet Jul 15, 2011 (The Modesto Bee - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Two options for redrawing Stanislaus County's Board of Supervisors district boundaries were unveiled Thursday. To rebalance the population in each district, a citizens advisory committee proposed various ways to slice up Modesto, Ceres and rural neighborhoods. But representation for the county's other cities -- Turlock, Oakdale, Riverbank, Patterson, Newman, Hughson and Waterford -- will remain pretty much the same. The once-a-decade redistricting is based on Census 2010 population counts. By law, each of the five supervisorial districts must be adjusted to represent roughly an equal number of residents. Public comments on the two options will be sought at a community meeting Wednesday. A final redistricting proposal will be presented Aug. 16 to the Board of Supervisors. The board is expected to approve boundary shifts at its Aug. 30 meeting. The new boundaries will take effect with next year's elections. The citizens advisory committee worked for several months with county staff members and held six public hearings before agreeing on two options. Both of the proposed plans carve the county into five pieces. Each district would end up with slightly more than 100,000 residents. That was tough for the 11-member committee to do, considering Stanislaus' population is concentrated in the center. With so many people in Modesto, four of the five supervisorial districts mathematically must dip into the city to provide balanced representation countywide. Far-flung or compact The first option splits Modesto but keeps all of Ceres in District 5. To do that, however, required the careful crafting of far-flung boundaries that lump together Empire, Modesto's airport neighborhood and Ceres with Patterson, Newman and the far western edge of the county. That option also groups west Modesto, south Modesto, Salida and northwest Modesto into District 3. The second option would provide more geographically compact districts. It would keep west Modesto in District 3, while putting south Modesto and most of Ceres in District 5. It also would shove northeast Ceres and the airport neighborhood into District 4, along with Del Rio on the county's northern edge. The final proposal will be made public in early August, but the Board of Supervisors has the power to alter the boundaries before approving them Aug. 30. For a detailed street map of the proposed options, go to www.StanCounty.com/redistricting. Public comments also can be submitted at that Web site. Wednesday's meeting on the redistricting plans will be from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Martin Peterson Event Center, 750 12th St., Modesto. Bee staff writer J.N. Sbranti can be reached at [email protected] or (209) 578-2196. To see more of The Modesto Bee, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.modbee.com/. Copyright (c) 2011, The Modesto Bee, Calif. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]