Countywide : Water District OKs Boundary Shifts
The directors of the United Water Conservation District gave preliminary approval Tuesday to a redistricting plan that shifts the boundaries of seven divisions based on data from the 1990 U.S. census.
Updated for the first time since 1976, new boundaries for the district’s seven divisions are still subject to approval by the County Board of Supervisors.
The primary goal of the redistricting was to create areas of nearly equal populations while trying to follow natural geographic and political boundaries, said district Assistant Director Fred Royer, who supervised the 10-month project. District board members are elected by voters in each division.
The largest change was made in the boundaries to Division 4, which contains the fast-growing urban area of Oxnard, he said. A portion of the Oxnard area was shifted into the neighboring Division 2, which covers the unincorporated areas of Saticoy and El Rio and portions of east Ventura, Royer said.
Royer said concerns about the divisions’ ethnic balance expressed by California Rural Legal Assistance did not lead to any adjustments, because the boundaries were not created to divide or exclude any ethnic group. Division 4 in the Oxnard is 76% Latino, while Division 1 in the Santa Paula and Fillmore areas contains a 58% majority of Latino residents, Royer said.
Officials at California Rural Legal Assistance could not be reached for comment.
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