TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

The city of Bakersfield has launched its redrawing of council boundaries, posting maps of alternatives on the web, scheduling public meetings and otherwise seeking community input.

Planning officials have presented three preliminary maps aimed at roughly equalizing the populations of the seven city wards -- without drastically changing their boundaries.

Changes, which are based on data from the most recent census, will ensure that each ward has a population no more than 5 percent over or under the average ward population of 49,460, according to a city administrative report.

"In the first (concept), we tried to keep (changes) minimal and still achieve the balance in population," city Planning Director Jim Eggert said. "The other two are a little bit more involved."

While redistricting processes at county and state levels often elicit partisan squabbling, officials said they don't anticipate much controversy at the city level, especially since council seats are non-partisan.

"It's purely on the basis of math," said City Manager Alan Tandy. "We're simply trying to get within the 5 percent population threshold."

Though the City Council won't vote on any of the three preliminary concepts for at least a couple months, City Planning Director Jim Eggert said he hoped to get the ball rolling as soon as possible.

"By doing it early, everybody has a better feel for who's representing them," Eggert said.

Eggert said while the proposed plans have been up on the city's website for a while, he hasn't gotten much feedback from anybody.

A public hearing is scheduled for the next council meeting, Sept. 28, though Tandy said it's more likely councilmembers will want to tweak the concepts.

"Councilmembers might say I've got a project in this neighborhood, I'd really like to keep it," he said. "The maps may evolve some."

Eggert said the concepts are drawn to keep neighborhoods intact and divide wards along major arterials, though he said city staffers do take into account where councilmembers live so as not to draw them out of their own wards.

"We purposely kept them in their ward," he said, but "it wasn't like we had to do a finger to catch somebody's house."

There is, however, a chunk of Ward 4 territory extending south of Stockdale Highway and surrounded on three sides by Ward 5 included in all three plans.

Vice Mayor David Couch, who occupies the Ward 4 seat, lives in that chunk -- which also contains a stretch of river.

Ward 4, which is largely in the northwest, has seen much of the city's growth since 2006, the last time the wards were reapportioned. The city has grown by more than 42,000 total since then, the report said.

Ward 4 is currently the most populated ward, the report said, with 57,864, which means it is 16.57 percent over the average.

Couch said he would like to keep the river in his ward, but he "wouldn't go overboard" if it needed to be drawn out of Ward 4.

In fact, in all three concepts, the largest section moved between wards, from Ward 4 to Ward 5, would be territory along the river in the southwest, though the plans do keep the Park at River Walk and a small stretch of riverside territory in Ward 4.

"I always want to keep the Park at River Walk and the baseball fields," Couch said.

Ward 2, which is centrally located and includes much of downtown, would also see relatively significant changes.

The administrative report said Ward 2 is currently 19.17 percent below the average -- the largest discrepancy of all the wards.

In all three concepts, Ward 2 would pick up small, densely-populated areas from Ward 1.

In concepts two and three, it would also pick up territory from Ward 3 and shift Ward 2 slightly northwest.

Ward 2 Councilwoman Sue Benham, who does not plan to seek reelection in 2012, said she is concerned with the things she "has always been concerned about" -- keeping neighborhoods intact and dividing wards along major arterials -- though she didn't have opinions on specific concepts yet.

"The Ward 2 seat has always included quite a bit of east Bakersfield and downtown," she said. "It has to push either west or south."

Still, she said, "what is out there now may not necessarily be what is ultimately adopted."

Friday, Benham said a fourth concept that had been developed but not yet released to the public “serves Ward 2 very well.” The Californian was not able to obtain a copy of the map as of Friday evening.

“Basically it keeps what’s in Ward 2 currently and adds area to the south,” Benham said of the plan. “It looks like a cohesive ward.”

City staff recommended the reapportionment, which Eggert likened to completing a "jigsaw puzzle," be done by early next year -- well before elections.