The City of Redlands invites residents and community members to learn about redistricting and share their ideas about how shifts in population might affect the boundaries of the five City Council districts based on 2020 Federal Census data.

Every 10 years, cities with voting districts must conduct a redistricting process to ensure a proper balance of populations exists between all districts. State law requires cities such as Redlands to engage communities in the redistricting process by holding public hearings and conducting public outreach. Residents are highly encouraged to participate and each meeting is open to all residents in the city.

The finalized maps will define the five City of Redlands district boundaries and determine how City Council members are elected for the next 10 years.

The first of a series of public hearings on the redistricting process will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 21, in the City Council Chambers at Redlands City Hall, 35 Cajon St. Two additional public hearings will be held Jan. 18, 2022, and Feb. 15, 2022, with adoption of the final maps planned for April 17, 2022.

A virtual workshop will be held via Zoom from 5-7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 30. The Zoom ID is 862 2201 6993, or join by phone at (669) 900-6833. Participants in the virtual workshop will learn about the current laws that govern the redistricting process, an overview of the timeline to complete redistricting, an explanation of communities of interest, and a demonstration of mapping tools the public can use to define communities of interest and how to submit redistricting plans for the City Council to consider.

Under state and federal law voting districts must meet the following criteria:

• Each Council District shall contain a nearly equal number of inhabitants
• Council District boundaries shall be drawn in a manner that complies with the Federal Voting Rights Act
• Each council district shall not be drawn with race as the predominate factor in violation of the principles established by the United States Supreme Court in Shaw v. Reno, 509 U.S. 630 (1993), and its progeny

The public is invited to submit information regarding their communities of interest and proposed district boundaries for the 2021 redistricting process. Draft maps will be available after the 2020 U.S. Census data is released, which is estimated to be at the end of September 2021.

Redlands residents can learn more about the process for drawing new election districts at https://drawredlands.org/. The site will be updated regularly as draft maps are available.