FORKS — The first of three public hearings on five proposals for new boundaries for Clallam County commissioner districts will be held today in Forks.
The Clallam County Districting Commission meeting starts at 7 p.m. in the Forks City Council chambers, 500 E. Division St.
Districting Masters Gene Unger and Don Corson will present their five options for district boundaries in advance of a public comment period.
Other hearings will be held Wednesday at the Sequim unit of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula at 400 W. Fir St., and Thursday in Room 160 of the Clallam County Courthouse, 223 E. Fourth St., Port Angeles. All three hearings begin at 7 p.m.
The five-member districting commission seeks citizen input on the five proposals. The commission will deliberate and consider a final districting plan at Thursday’s meeting in Port Angeles.
The Clallam County charter requires a districting commission to reconsider the boundaries among the three commissioner districts every 10 years when new U.S. Census data come out.
The most populous district cannot exceed the size of the least populous district by more than 5 percent, and the boundaries should run from north to south, the charter requires.
All five proposals would shift the boundaries to the east to account for growth during the past decade in the Sequim area.
Unger and Corson, who are working under an $8,500 contract with the county, developed a scoring system to analyze the proposals.
The highest-scoring option — Proposal C — moves the line between Districts No. 2 and 3 from west Port Angeles to Valley Creek in the heart of Port Angeles.
The line between Districts No. 1 and 2 shifts from McDonald Creek in Agnew to Boyce Road near Carlsborg.
New boundaries will take effect in 2012.
Clallam County grew by 6,879 people between 2000 and 2010, from 64,525 to 71,404.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
