EVERETT — The group of political appointees tasked with redrawing new Snohomish County Council districts appeared no closer to picking between two competing plans after a public meeting this week.
Only three audience members spoke at Tuesday’s meeting at the county’s downtown Everett campus, two in support of the Republicans’ preference and another for the alternative favored by Democrats.
One speaker was Paul Blowers, a retired community college president who lives west of I-5 near Smokey Point. He objected to the Democrats’ preferred plan to put him in the same district as Everett and Mukilteo, rather than the rural areas of Arlington and Darrington where it is now.
“We are a semi-rural district,” Blowers said. “We don’t want our council person to be somebody from Everett.”
That came on top of just one written comment, also supporting the GOP-backed map because it splits up fewer cities and voting precincts.
Next Tuesday, at a 6 p.m. meeting, the county districting committee is slated to pick which option to send to the County Council for approval. The council is expected to make its decision in late September.
The county districting process takes place every 10 years, following the U.S. Census. The new maps should put just over 142,000 people in each of the five county council districts, meaning that some will grow and some will shrink. The County Council appointed two Republicans and two Democrats to the committee, which later picked former Marysville Mayor Dennis Kendall as chairman.
For now it’s far from clear what the final boundaries will be.
The Republicans on the districting committee are supporting a map, created by a neutral mapping expert the county hired, that’s informally known as the “minimal change” plan. While it hews more closely to the current boundaries, it does move Granite Falls from Councilman John Koster’s northern District 1 into Council Chairman Dave Somers’ eastern District 5. Some see that shift as making Somers, a Democrat, more vulnerable to a Republican opponent when his term is up in 2013.
That plan also moves the boundaries of Councilwoman Stephanie Wright’s southwestern District 3 slightly east. It also expands Councilman Brian Sullivan’s District 2 to cover more of the Silver Lake area of south Everett. Both of those changes come at the expense of Councilman Dave Gossett’s District 4, which has too many people.
Two Democrats are supporting an alternative that redraws many boundaries along major roads, such as I-5 and portions of Highway 9. It puts northern Snohomish County west of I-5 into Sullivan’s district. That means that the Stanwood and Tulalip areas would have the same council representative as most of Everett and Mukilteo. That plan also puts much of the Lake Stevens area into District 1. It moves District 3 north of Picnic Point Road into Mukilkeo and stops the district’s eastern boundary at I-5, gaining part of Mountlake Terrace and losing part of Lynnwood. District 4 cedes territory north and northeast of Mill Creek, while expanding eastward between the King County line and 180th Street SE. District 5 would extend west of I-5 into south Everett.
The Democrats’ favored plan also splits 34 voting precincts, compared to just two in the Republican-backed plan.
Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465; nhaglund@heraldnet.com.
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