Half Moon Bay City Council Closes Out the Redistricting Process by Approving New Council District Boundaries for the Next 10 Years

At its meeting of April 5, 2022, the Half Moon Bay City Council approved an ordinance amending the Half Moon Bay Municipal Code with respect to electing its members, redrawing boundaries, and sequencing of elections within the election districts. This action gave final adoption to Map 503b, which outlines the new City Council election districts.

This was the second reading of the ordinance, following the City Council’s first reading and introduction on March 15. State law requires the City Council to examine and, if necessary, adjust the City Council district boundaries every 10 years following the Federal Census to ensure compliance with the Voting Rights Act. Map 503b will be used for City Council elections in Half Moon Bay for the next 10 years, at which time the City will be required to redistrict again following the 2030 Census.

Leading up to this approval by the City Council, the seven-member Redistricting Advisory Committee spent eight months conducting public hearings and meetings, reviewing draft maps, and ultimately formalizing a recommendation to the City Council. Additionally, staff conducted targeted outreach to gather community input into the potential changes in district boundaries, and to make sure voters and prospective council candidates have a good understanding of the changes in districts for the upcoming November 2022 election.

As part of map selection, adjustments to election sequencing— which districts are up for election in which order—were also made.

A normal byproduct of the redistricting and election sequencing process is that some voters will move districts from those they were in previously. This will cause those voters to either have their votes deferred (skip an election) or accelerated (vote in back-to-back elections). For the selected Map 503b, 695 voters (843 population) will be deferred to the November 2024 election and 1,534 residents (population) will be accelerated to November 2022.

The City thanks the Redistricting Advisory Committee for its diligent work during this process, and to the many involved community members for their thoughtful and productive input.

Please visit www.drawhmb.org to view previous staff reports and maps as well as other information on this process. Any questions can be directed to Jessica Blair, Communications Director/City Clerk, at [email protected].