SEAL BEACH : 2 Council District Boundaries in Limbo

The City Council deadlocked Monday night on a proposed boundary change between the Hill and Old Town council districts.

The boundary changes will be discussed by the council again at its Nov. 12 meeting.

The proposed change would have resulted in 1,100 more residents in the Old Town district than the Hill.

Under state law, redistricting is required to keep district populations as equitable as possible. The council appointed a committee to use 1990 census data to suggest changes in boundaries.

At a special meeting last week, the council reached a consensus on changes to three of the five council districts--College Park East and two Leisure World districts--but has grappled with a number of options for the other two.

Proposed changes to Districts 2, 4 and 5 would result in a population imbalance between Districts 1 and 3. Proposals to even out those two districts included several options. One was to split Surfside between the two districts, but that met with fierce opposition and was eliminated early in the discussion.

Another suggestion was to take Surfside out of District 1, which primarily encompasses Old Town, and put it in District 3, primarily the Hill area. Surfside residents objected to that as well.

“We want to keep our neighborhood whole, and we want to be represented by the District 1 representative,” said Bob Montgomery, president of the board of directors for Surfside.

Another plan would shift the inland Old Town area from District 1 to District 3, which now includes the Seal Beach Center, the Trailer Park, Naval Weapons Station housing, the Hellman property and other areas.

But some residents objected to what they called gerrymandered boundaries.

“I sat down and tried to come up with a brainchild win-all situation, and it’s not there,” said Councilwoman Gwen Forsythe.

Dorothy Whyte, a member of the redistricting committee, suggested leaving Surfside in District 1 and changing the boundary between the two districts to run along Pacific Coast Highway. Doing that would mean a clean dividing line, but it would also mean that District 1 would have 5,654 residents, compared to only 4,582 in District 3.

Councilwoman Marilyn Bruce Hastings supported that plan.

“This is our first opportunity to be whole,” Hastings said. “I don’t like intrusions into Old Town. We’ve had enough of that.” She was supported by Mayor Frank Laszlo.

Forsythe, who was joined in the vote by Councilman William J. Doane, said she had some concerns that such a large population difference between two districts could open the city to the possibility of having an election challenged in the future.