HomeMy WebLinkAboutAGENDA REPORT 2021 1117 CCSA REG ITEM 09ACITY OF MOORPARK, CALIFORNIA
City Council Meeting
of November 17, 2021
ACTION PROVIDED DIRECTION ON THE
STATE AND COUNTY REDISTRICTING
PROCESSES AND AUTHORIZED THE
MAYOR AND CITY MANAGER
TO PROVIDE COMMENTS ON THE
CITY'S BEHALF.
BY K. Spangler.
A.Consider State and County Redistricting Efforts and Authorize the Mayor and City
Manager to Comment on the Proposed State and County Maps throughout the
Redistricting Process. Staff Recommendation: Provide direction on the state and
county redistricting processes and authorize the Mayor and City Manager to provide
comments on the City’s behalf. (Staff: Brian Chong, Assistant to the City
Manager).
Item: 9.A.
MOORPARK CITY COUNCIL
AGENDA REPORT
TO: Honorable City Council
FROM: Brian Chong, Assistant to the City Manager
DATE: 11/17/2021 Regular Meeting
SUBJECT: Consider State and County Redistricting Efforts and Authorize the
Mayor and City Manager to Comment on the Proposed State and
County Maps throughout the Redistricting Process
BACKGROUND
At its November 3 meeting, the City Council directed staff to agendize a discussion of
the redistricting efforts by the State of California and the County of Ventura. Like the
City, the State of California and County of Ventura go through a redistricting process
every ten years following completion of the U.S. Census. Following the completion of
the 2020 U.S. Census, the California Redistricting Commission is creating new district
maps for the U.S. Congress, State Senate, and State Assembly. The County is creating
new district maps for County Supervisors.
DISCUSSION
In general, the goal during redistricting is to maximize the City’s influence in developing
countywide, statewide, and federal policy. To accomplish this, the City desires to be in
the same districts as other communities with similar interests (such as Public Safety
Power Shutoff prevention and mitigation, the State Route 118 corridor, etc.) and to
avoid the dilution of the City’s sentiments in the policy development arena in the greater
Los Angeles region.
State of California Redistricting
The California Redistricting Commission is tasked with developing district maps for U.S.
Congressional Districts, the California State Senate, and the California State Assembly.
The 14-member Commission is comprised of five Republicans, five Democrats, and four
individuals not affiliated with either party. The Commission must draw the district lines
in conformity with strict, nonpartisan rules designed to create districts of relatively equal
Item: 9.A.
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population that will provide fair representation and seek to maintain communities of
interest.
The Commission began collecting public input in the summer of 2021. During the
Commission’s July 22 virtual meeting, Assistant to the City Manager Brian Chong
provided verbal testimony on behalf of the City with two key points:
1.Do not split Moorpark between districts.
2. Maintain Moorpark's position with other Ventura County cities in statewide
districts.
This fall, the Commission began publishing “visualizations” of potential district maps for
public review and comment. Copies of the visualizations and potential maps are
available on the Commission’s website at www.wedrawthelinesca.org/past_meetings
(for past-dated documents) and at www.wedrawthelinesca.org/meetings (for the most
current documents). The documents are included in links to meeting “Handouts” for the
respective meeting dates. It should be noted that this staff report was published on
November 12, and the Commission may subsequently publish new visualizations and
maps prior to the November 17 City Council meeting.
The initial sets of visualizations (published on October 13 and October 27) both honored
both of the City’s initial comments. However, the third set of visualizations (published
on November 2) contained a revised State Assembly map that moved Moorpark from an
eastern Ventura County District (which contains Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, Camarillo,
and Somis) to a western Ventura County District (which contains Ventura, Oxnard, Port
Hueneme, Ojai, Santa Paula, and Fillmore). In response, on November 3, the City
submitted an electronic letter (Attachment 1) repeating the City’s two previous
comments and explaining why Moorpark should be kept with eastern Ventura County.
On November 7, the Commission published another set of visualizations that placed
Moorpark back into the eastern Ventura County Assembly District. Based on these
visualizations, Moorpark is paired with Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley such that the
entirety of eastern Ventura County is unified across each of the Congressional, State
Senate, and State Assembly District maps. On November 10, the Commission
published its first official set of maps, which matched the November 7 visualizations.
The draft districts containing Moorpark are shown on the following pages.
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November 10 Draft Map: U.S. Congressional Districts
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November 10 Draft Maps: State Senate Districts (EVENTSFV)
November 10 Draft Maps: State Assembly Districts (AD_MALIEVENT_DRAFT)
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Following publication of the draft maps on November 10, the Commission transitioned
from publishing tentative visualizations for public comment to live line drawing
exercises. Throughout the rest of November and December, the California Redistricting
Commission is scheduled to have almost daily public meetings as it goes through
additional cycles of live line drawing exercises and soliciting public input as it finalizes
district maps to be used for the next ten years. Changes to the maps are expected to
occur daily, which will not afford the City Council the ability to individually consider each
proposed map and amendment and provide City comments in a timely manner. As
such, it is recommended that the City Council affirm the City’s previous comments and
authorize the Mayor and City Manager to provide comments to the California
Redistricting Commission on the City’s behalf.
The California Redistricting Commission’s final meeting to finalize maps is scheduled for
December 27, 2021.
Ventura County Redistricting
The County of Ventura began its public redistricting process at the end of August 2021.
On September 1, City Manager Troy Brown provided official comments on the City’s
behalf via a letter to the Board of Supervisors making two comments:
1. Moorpark should be entirely located in one district.
2. Moorpark should be located in a Southeast-County district.
On October 12, Ventura County published four draft maps for public comment and
review. One of the four maps (Draft Map 1) proposed to split Moorpark roughly in half –
into western and eastern portions – with the eastern district extending to Simi Valley,
eastern Thousand Oaks, and Oak Park and the western district extending all the way
from Fillmore and Santa Paula to Oxnard.
In response, on October 13, City Manager Brown sent a letter to the County repeating
its two comments and stridently encouraging the Board of Supervisors to select one of
the three other maps that did not split Moorpark across multiple districts. On October
15, the City also launched a “One Moorpark” web page and campaign
(www.moorparkca.gov/OneMoorpark). The web page drew over 2,000 unique visitors,
and the public’s response to the call for action was tremendous. Ahead of the Ventura
County Board of Supervisors meetings on October 16 and November 9, County officials
received nearly 700 E-mails from the public telling them to keep Moorpark together in
one district.
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At the October 16 meeting, the Ventura County Board of Supervisors considered the
maps, and Assistant City Manager Gagajena gave verbal testimony in support of the
City’s letter and comments. Following public testimony, the Board of Supervisors
eliminated two of the four maps and provided direction to County staff and its mapping
consultant to try and develop a map that would provide two majority-minority districts (to
match the County’s overall demographics) and not split up cities. Supervisors Bob
Huber and Linda Parks also made verbal comments indicating they were opposed to
maps that would split Moorpark.
On November 3, Ventura County published five maps for public review and comment,
including three maps that would split Moorpark. The five maps were:
Map 1A ........................................ Splits Moorpark
Map 2A ........................................ Does not split Moorpark
Community Map .......................... Splits Moorpark
LULAC MALDEF Plan ................. Splits Moorpark
Draft Map 66742 .......................... Does not split Moorpark
In response, City Manager Brown sent a letter (Attachment 2) to County on November 4
repeating the City’s initial comments and urging the Board of Supervisors to not split
Moorpark into multiple districts. The City also updated its “One Moorpark” campaign to
provide residents with information on how to submit comments and concerns to the
Board of Supervisors.
At its November 9 meeting, the Board of Supervisors voted to move forward with two
maps for future consideration and agendized further discussion for its November 16
meeting. Neither of the two maps still under consideration proposes to split
Moorpark across multiple Supervisorial districts. The Board of Supervisors also
provided its staff and mapping consultant with direction to examine minor amendments
to achieve some policy objectives ahead of the November 16 meeting. However, these
amended maps are not expected to be published until Friday, November 12, after
publication of this City Council staff report. Those maps will be published on the
County’s website (www.ventura.org/redistricting/draft-maps/). A summary of the two
maps as of November 9 and the direction given by the Board of Supervisors on each is
provided on the following page.
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Map No. 77412 (districtr.org/edit/77412), with direction to:
•Move Ojai into same district as Ventura
•Move Oxnard Airport into primary Oxnard district
Map No. 78227 (districtr.org/edit/78227), with direction to:
•Make Camarillo more whole by minimizing the split
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• Make Somis boundary coterminous with the Somis Community Council boundary
• Move the Silver Strand Beach community into the coastal district
At the November 17, City Council meeting, staff will provide the City Council with an
update of the proposed maps and the November 16 Ventura County Board of
Supervisors meeting.
It should be noted that the Board of Supervisors has said it will continue to consider
community input until the state deadline for Ventura County to finalize its redistricting
process on December 15, 2021. As such, additional comments from the City may be
warranted and needed in a very timely manner.
Additional City Comments
To enable the City to rapidly comment on both State and County redistricting proposals,
it is recommended that the City Council provide direction on the state and county
redistricting processes and then authorize the Mayor and City Manager to provide
comments on the City’s behalf. The comments previously provided to the state and
county are as follows:
For State Redistricting:
1. Do not split Moorpark between districts.
2. Maintain Moorpark's position with other Ventura County cities in statewide
districts.
For County Redistricting:
1. Moorpark should be entirely located in one district.
2. Moorpark should be located in a Southeast-County district.
Finally, it should be noted that City Manager Brown has been the signatory on the City’s
correspondence regarding the Ventura County redistricting efforts because Mayor
Parvin has publicly announced her intent to run for a seat on the Board of Supervisors
in the June 2022 election. Although this is not officially a conflict of interest, the City
Manager has been preparing and signing the City’s comment letters to avoid the
appearance of any conflict.
FISCAL IMPACT
None.
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COUNCIL GOAL COMPLIANCE
This action does not support a current strategic directive.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION
Provide direction on the state and county redistricting processes, and authorize the
Mayor and City Manager to provide comments on the City’s behalf.
Attachment 1: Letter to California Redistricting Commission, Dated November 3, 2021
Attachment 2: Letter to Ventura County Board of Supervisors, Dated November 4, 2021
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CITY OF MOORPARK
JANICE S. PARVIN
Mayor
DR. ANTONIO CASTRO
Councilmember
CHRIS ENEGREN
Councilmember
DANIEL GROFF
Councilmember
DAVID POLLOCK
Councilmember
799 Moorpark Avenue, Moorpark, California 93021
Main City Phone Number (805) 517-6200 | Fax (805) 532-2205 | moorpark@moorparkca.gov
November 3, 2021 SUBMITTED ON-LINE
California Citizens Redistricting Commission
721 Capitol Mall, Suite 260
Sacramento, CA 95814
RE: COMMENTS ON NOVEMBER 2, 2021 VISUALIZATIONS
Dear Chair Le Mons, Co-Chair Turner, and Commissioners:
On behalf of the City of Moorpark, I want to thank the Commission and its staff for its
thoughtful consideration in developing the most recent set of visualizations, dated
November 2. Before any visualizations or maps were published, the City provided two
comments to the Commission:
1) Do not split up Moorpark.
2) Moorpark belongs with Ventura County.
The previous set of visualizations (dated October 27, 2021) fully incorporated our comments
for all of the U.S. Congressional, California State Senate, and California State Assembly
Districts. The City of Moorpark applauded these visualizations and provided official
comments to that effect.
The new set of visualizations (dated November 2, 2021) fully incorporate our comments for
both the U.S. Congressional Districts and the California State Senate Districts. However, the
California State Assembly Districts in the November 2 visualization newly split up
Ventura County in a way such that Moorpark is oddly linked with western Ventura
County, rather than eastern Ventura County.
While we certainly understand that some counties will inevitably need to be split during the
redistricting process, the split should make sense and preserve communities of interest.
During the initial public comment phase to help the Commission identify communities of
interest, dozens of residents in western Ventura County (Oxnard, Port Hueneme, and El Rio)
and in the Santa Clara Valley (Santa Paula, Fillmore, Piru) commented that they wanted to
be separate from the eastern Ventura County communities of Thousand Oaks, Camarillo,
Moorpark, and Malibu. They cited the communities’ divergent demographics and suburban/
ATTACHMENT 1
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November 2, 2021 Visualizations
Page 2
agricultural interests of the two portions of Ventura County. The November 2 visualizations
for Assembly Districts incorporates these comments, except for Moorpark, which has been
oddly linked to western Ventura County.
I’d like to share several examples of why Moorpark should be linked with eastern Ventura
County, and especially with Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley:
1)Shared Transportation Network: Moorpark is connected to adjacent communities primarily by
the 23 and 118 Freeways, which is physically a contiguous freeway running between
Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley, through Moorpark and Moorpark alone. The two secondary
highways leading out of Moorpark – surface street portions of State Routes 23 and 118 – head
north and west from Moorpark. Proceeding down either of these state highways from
Moorpark would take you through the eastern Ventura County Assembly District
(VAD_EVENTUMALI_1102) before returning to the western Ventura County Assembly District
(VAD_VENTURA_1102) of which Moorpark is currently a part.
2)Shared Employment Base: Moorpark largely shares its employment base with eastern Ventura
County and western Los Angeles, not with western Ventura County. A recent study of
commuting patterns revealed that only 8.7% of Moorpark commuters traveled to work in the
communities proposed to comprise the western Ventura County Assembly District
(VAD_VENTURA_1102). By contrast, 26.9% of Moorpark commuters travel to Thousand
Oaks, Camarillo, and Simi Valley (all located in VAD_EVENTUMALI_1102), and an additional
34.3% commute to Los Angeles County, whose western edge is also included in the eastern
Ventura County district.
3)Shared Governmental Operations: Moorpark, Thousand Oaks, and Simi Valley enjoy
numerous partnerships in providing service to our public. Just as one example, the Moorpark
City Transit bus system is operated under contract by Thousand Oaks. The Moorpark City
Transit buses are stored, maintained, and refueled at Simi Valley’s Transit Maintenance
Facility.
4)Shared Impacts by Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS): One of the key legislative priorities
for Moorpark is preventing and mitigating the effects of Public Safety Power Shutoffs by
Southern California Edison (SCE). Moorpark has suffered through PSPS outages in 2019,
2020, and 2021, including a Santa Ana Wind event during which SCE de-energized six of the
ten circuits in Moorpark, cutting power to 8,362 customers for upwards of 40 consecutive
hours. Like Simi Valley in the eastern Ventura County Assembly District
(VAD_EVENTUMALI_1102), Moorpark’s location immediately adjacent to the Santa Susana
Winds makes Moorpark especially vulnerable to high-powered Santa Ana Winds that are
magnified by the mountain passes. This is in contrast to the western Ventura County
communities of the Oxnard plain, which is not adjacent to wind-magnifying mountains, where
the current visualization currently places Moorpark (VAD_VENTURA_1102).
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November 2, 2021 Visualizations
Page 3
Based on the above, the City of Moorpark respectfully requests that the Commission
keep Moorpark with eastern Ventura County, as was previously envisioned in the October
27 visualizations. Thank you for your consideration and dedication to a fair, thoughtful
redistricting process.
Sincerely,
Janice S. Parvin
Mayor
cc: City Council
City Manager
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CITY OF MOORPARK
JANICE S. PARVIN
Mayor
DR. ANTONIO CASTRO
Councilmember
CHRIS ENEGREN
Councilmember
DANIEL GROFF
Councilmember
DAVID POLLOCK
Councilmember
799 Moorpark Avenue, Moorpark, California 93021
Main City Phone Number (805) 517-6200 | Fax (805) 532-2205 | moorpark@moorparkca.gov
November 4, 2021 TRANSMITTED ELECTRONICALLY
Ventura County Board of Supervisors
County of Ventura
800 S. Victoria Avenue
Ventura, CA 93009-1940
RE: OPPOSITION TO DRAFT REDISTRICTING MAPS THAT SPLIT MOORPARK INTO
MULTIPLE SUPERVISORIAL DISTRICTS
Honorable Board of Supervisors:
Thank you for the opportunity to provide comments as you go through the redistricting
process following the 2020 Census. The City of Moorpark opposes any redistricting map
that splits Moorpark into separate districts. This includes City opposition to Maps 1A, the
“Community Map,” and the “LULAC MALDEF Plan” published on November 3.
Moorpark is the sixth-largest city among Ventura County’s ten incorporated cities, with roughly
half the population of fifth-place Camarillo. Bisecting Moorpark across two districts would
further diminish and erode the ability for Moorpark residents and businesses to be represented
in countywide policy development because Moorpark would represent only a very small portion
of any individual Supervisor’s constituency.
On September 1, before any maps were created, the City of Moorpark provided two
comments to the Board of Supervisors as it engaged in its redistricting process:
Comment 1: Moorpark Should Be Entirely Located in One District.
Comment 2: Moorpark Should Be Located in a Southeast-County District.
These comments were provided to demonstrate to the Board of Supervisors that Moorpark
itself is a community of interest that should not be split. In support of this stipulation, the Board
included the importance of not splitting cities as part of its direction to the County staff and its
mapping consultant at its October 16 public hearing on redistricting. It was understood that,
mathematically, larger communities would likely be split into at least two districts because they
are more populous.
ATTACHMENT 2
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Ventura County Redistricting Comments
Page 2
Three of the five maps published ahead of the Board’s November 9 public hearing on
redistricting split Moorpark and other cities:
Map 1A Splits Moorpark (two districts)
Splits Thousand Oaks (three districts)
Splits Oxnard (three districts)
Splits Port Hueneme (two districts)
Community Plan Splits Moorpark (two districts)
Splits Camarillo (three districts)
Splits Oxnard (three districts)
Splits Ventura (two districts)
LULAC MALDEF Plan Splits Moorpark (two districts)
Splits Thousand Oaks (two districts)
Splits Camarillo (three districts)
Splits Oxnard (three districts)
In contrast, Map 2A would split only Camarillo and Oxnard. Map 66742, with a minor correction
to what appears to be a minor mapping error on the western edge of Santa Paula, would also
only split Camarillo and Oxnard. Both of those maps also have two majority-minority districts
as previously prioritized and directed by the Board of Supervisors, and even two majority-Latino
districts as measured by population and by voting age population.
Fortunately, the Board of Supervisors has for its consideration two other map proposals that
achieve the Board’s top priority of creating two majority-minority districts while
splitting only two cities, rather than splitting four cities, into multiple districts. The City
of Moorpark encourages the Board to adopt a new district map that does not split Moorpark.
I appreciate your consideration.
Respectfully,
Troy Brown
City Manager
cc: Honorable Mayor and City Council
County Executive Officer, Mike Powers
Assistant City Manager, PJ Gagajena
City Clerk, Ky Spangler
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