Colorado Springs is in the process of redistricting its six city council districts. According to the city charter, redistricting must take place every four years and must balance population in each district while maintaining neighborhood and geographic boundaries to the extent possible. Due to the nonpartisan nature of Colorado Springs City Council seats, redistricting does not take into consideration the numbers of Republican, Democrat or unaffiliated voters within in each district. The charter requires that the redistricting process be complete at least 120 days but no more than 150 days prior to the city council election on April 1, 2025.
“That works out to about Nov. 4, Dec. 5,” said Colorado Springs City Clerk Sarah Johnson during a redistricting town hall at the Westside Community Center last week. “My goal is to get [the final redistricting map] out there as quickly as possible because we have people already inquiring about running [for city council]. I have been telling them we’re doing redistricting now. Don’t preprint anything at this point. It’s fine to say you’re going to run for district council, but just be careful if you’re on the edges of what district you say you’re going to be in just to save … time, money and voter confusion.”
Johnson’s goal during redistricting is to create six districts of approximately 83,000 residents. Since 2020, Districts 2 and 6, on the north and east side of Colorado Springs, have grown.
“Just in four years, the census data – and we are using estimates, so census estimate data – District 2 is 8,000 [residents] too big,” explained Johnson. “The far east district, which is the District 6, is 5,000 [residents] too big. Some of the other districts are under population based on this, so we’ve got to even it out. So, in four years we’ve grown roughly 20,000 people.”
To adjust population levels, Johnson and the Districting Process Advisory Committee (DPAC) – made up of seven members, one from each district and one at-large – have developed three potential maps, options A, B, and C.
Shelly Roehrs, the District 3 representative for the DPAC, explained how the different maps would impact the Westside of Colorado Springs. “[Option A] does nothing – no changes to D3 at all,” said Roehrs “Option B, the pros – [Johnson] mentioned the Mountain Shadows … it unites the Garden of the Gods and Pleasant Valley, and then it does move some of those other precincts all into one … [Option C] unites Middle Shooks Run and it also takes Divine Redeemer in whole and moves it into [District] 3 from [District] 5.”
Copies of the three maps, as well as pro and con statements prepared by DPAC, are available on the Colorado Springs website at https://coloradosprings.gov/2024Redistricting. The city will release a preliminary district report by Oct. 1 and will conduct a public hearing on that report in October. Johnson said she plans to release a final map the week after the Presidential election on Nov. 5.
