PORT ANGELES — When the boundaries between the Clallam County commissioner districts shift in 2012, the current county commissioners won’t have to worry about moving.
The Clallam County Districting Commission settled on a final districting plan Thursday night after a public hearing at the Clallam County Courthouse in Port Angeles.
It was the third hearing held over three days in Forks, Sequim and Port Angeles.
New boundaries
The new boundaries will run north and south along Valley Creek in the heart of Port Angeles and along Boyce Road in Carlsborg.
“Valley Creek looks like a nice, natural break point,” said District No. 2 Commissioner Mike Chapman, whose residence is just east of Valley Creek.
Chapman, whose present term ends in December 2012, admitted he was initially concerned about being ousted from his own district as the population of the county shifted to the east in the 2010 Census.
“I’m glad it’s not happening,” he said.
Commissioner Mike Doherty, whose District No. 3 extends from Port Angeles to the Pacific Ocean, will see the boundary between his district and Chapman’s district move father away from his West Port Angeles residence.
Doherty was elected to a fourth four-year term last year.
Commissioner Steve Tharinger, who also is a state legislator, announced in April that he will not seek a fourth term on the county commission in this year’s election. His Dungeness neighborhood will remain in District No. 1.
The two candidates running for his seat in the Nov. 8 general election — Republican Jim McEntire and Democrat Linda Barnfather — both live in Sequim within the newly drawn district.
Precincts move
Changes in store for 2012 include:
■ Voter precincts 20 and 25 in West Port Angeles — and voter precinct 17 between the Eighth Street bridges in Port Angeles — will move from District No. 2 into District No. 3.
■ Voter precinct 14 in Port Angeles south of Albertsons and west of Laurel Street will move from District No. 3 into District No. 2.
■ Voter precincts in the Robin Hill and Klahhane areas between Port Angeles and Sequim will move from District No. 1 into District No. 2.
The action taken by the districting commission Thursday becomes official Monday.
The five-member panel will hold its final meeting at 7 p.m. in the county courthouse.
Proposal C
The districting commission voted 4-1, with Commissioner Earl Archer opposed, to select Proposal C, one of five options developed by Districting Masters Gene Unger and Don Corson.
Unger and Corson used a scoring system to analyze their proposals based on equal population, north-south boundaries, geographical compactness and whole voting precincts.
Unger and Corson analyzed all 99 voter precincts to make their proposals.
Clallam County charter
The Clallam County charter requires a districting commission to reconsider the boundaries every 10 years when new U.S. Census data is released.
The most populous district cannot exceed the size of the least populous district by more than 5 percent, according to the charter.
The boundaries are supposed to run from north to south.
All five proposals that Unger and Corson developed shifted the boundaries to the east to account for growth during the past decade in the Sequim area.
District No. 1, the eastern third of the county, runs from McDonald Creek near Agnew to the Jefferson County line. Its population swelled from 21,225 in 2000 to 26,444 in 2010 — making it 6.13 percent larger than the smallest district on the West End, No. 3.
Proposal D
Archer voted for a Proposal D, which would have kept the same boundary between Districts No. 2 and No. 3 but moved the Macleay precinct from District No. 2 into District No. 1.
Archer said the equal population provision of the charter should have been the primary consideration.
In Proposal D, District No. 3 is larger than District No. 1 by just 283 people, a difference of four-tenths of 1 percent.
In Proposal C, which the other members of the commission voted for, District No. 1 is larger than District No. 2 by 1,788 people, a difference of 2.5 percent.
“We should take at least passing note that District 1 is growing much faster than the other districts,” Archer said.
“I think D is by far the superior one. It brings us in closer [to equal population]. District 3 is slightly larger so that the change will not be as bad when they have to do this in 10 years.”
Other members of the commission noted that all five proposals were well within the 5 percent threshold and that Proposal C has a clean, north-south boundary.
Clean boundary
“It just seems to me that Valley Creek is a very logical boundary,” said Districting Commissioner and Forks Mayor Bryon Monohon.
Districting Commission Chairman John Marrs said the Macleay precinct north of Carlsborg is “by all traditions a Sequim precinct.”
“I think it should stay there, absent any compelling reason to move it,” Marrs said.
Districting Commissioner Paul Martin moved to accept Proposal C. Eric Foth seconded.
The only public testimony taken in the three public hearings was from Norma Turner of Port Angeles, who spoke Thursday.
Turner was on the charter review commission when it drafted the rules for redistricting.
Lone public voice
“To show you how crazy the system used to be, I’ve lived in the same house since 1973, and I’ve lived in all three county commissioner districts,” Turner said.
“The third district used to sweep around the back side of Port Angeles.”
Port of Port Angeles districts mirror county commissioner districts. No other government body is affected by Thursday’s re-districting.
Clallam County commissioners are elected countywide in the general election.
However, only residents within an individual commissioner’s district can vote for that commissioner in the primary.
The districting commission will make a presentation at the next Clallam County commissioners’ meeting Tuesday.
Later in the 10 a.m. meeting, county commissioners will consider a resolution accepting the final districting plan.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
