EVERETT — About 13,800 citizens represented by Snohomish County Councilmember Jared Mead will soon look to a new elected official.
A once-in-a-decade redistricting process wrapped up this week and shifted some of his district to another represented by a fellow Democrat.
Most residents will be unaffected.
The county redistricting is separate from Washington’s state and federal redistricting process, which made headlines this week after a bipartisan commission failed to meet its deadline.
By contrast, Snohomish County’s redistricting committee approved new political boundaries unanimously Wednesday with little fanfare. The plan now goes to the County Council for final approval.
Residents in two unincorporated chunks of Mead’s District 4 — which covers Mill Creek, Mountlake Terrace and Brier — will be affected.
That includes 12,761 people in a flank of homes between I-5 and the Mill Creek city limits. The area is bound by the west side of Silver Lake and 164th Street SW.
Those people will be moved into District 2, comprised of the Everett, Mukilteo and Tulalip areas. They can look to Democratic Councilmember Megan Dunn as their elected official.
Another 1,051 of Mead’s constituents, living just north of Hilltop Elementary School, will also be shifted. The small triangle of land is densely populated. It’s outlined by Damson Road, South Danvers Road and 203rd Place SW.
That neighborhood will now join a district hugging the southwest coast of Snohomish County. It includes Edmonds and Lynnwood. Democrat and former educator Stephanie Wright has overseen District 3 since 2010.
The two Republican-held districts sprawling across the east side of Snohomish County remain unchanged, represented by Nate Nehring (District 2 in the north) and Sam Low (District 5 in the south), who were re-elected in November.
An alternate plan considered by the committee would have moved Mountlake Terrace and Brier to District 3, affecting nearly 30,000 voters. All of the county’s five districts would have seen some changes.
But the bipartisan committee opted for less disruptive changes in exchange for slightly greater population differences between each district. That range is still well within acceptable levels.
The committee redrew the maps, Republican appointee Sid Roberts said, “harmoniously, and we did it on time.”
Claudia Yaw: 425-339-3449; claudia.yaw@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @yawclaudia.
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