County Council Redistricting Committee concluded their deliberations on Wednesday Dec 1st and came up with the following Map.

Modeled after the State of  Washington Redistricting methodology The members of the County committee consisted of two voting members from each Political Party and a chair who ran the meetings but had no vote in the resulting map or committee work.

The committee members were:

  • Charlie Crabtree
  • Mike Estes
  • Stephen Jackson
  • Gary Jensen – Chair
  • Jeremiah Ramsey
  • Tjalling Ypma – Districting Master

New County Districts Accepted Map Draft

  • The old district outlines can be seen as the dotted ….. lines on the map.
  • The Census population: Each district must be as close as possible in population as possible.
  • Attempting to put Communities of interest together should be considered in any redistricting planning.

Changes from the 2015 Map:

  • The Census figures showed that the population change was such that 2 districts could be included within the city limits of Bellingham.
  • We agreed that all but a few hundred city residents would be included in District 1 and 2.
  • Four Bellingham City Precincts were removed from the Lynden 4th District and placed in Bellingham District 2.
  • Since the 5th District (Coastal) gained the most in population since the last districting; areas around Ferndale and Blaine were moved into the center of the map; district 4.
  • Since the 3rd district (foothills) had the least population the plan was able to include the towns of Sumas, Nooksack and Everson in the 3rd District and remove from District 4.

Estimated Population figures are shown at the bottom of the map.

Outcome:

With Bellingham City and the Meridian School District redistricting allowed for more connections with their Council Districts and their Communities of interest; while retaining the communities of interest for Blaine and Ferndale..

Members of the Committee:

Charlie Crabtree

Jeremiah Ramsey

 

 

Charlie Crabtree and Jeremiah Ramsey were appointed by the Whatcom County Republican Party Chair and

 

 

Mike Estes

Stephen Jackson ESQ

 

 

Mike Estes and Stephen Jackson were appointed by The Whatcom County Democratic Party Chair and

 

Gary Jensen

 

Gary Jensen former mayor of Ferndale as the non voting chair and

 

 

 

Tjalling-Ypma

Tjalling Ypma the Districting Master (map drawer to present options the members wished to see).  He is a professor of Mathematics at Western Washington University and now has done this work right here in the Fourth Corner, as a volunteer, for at least three redistricting cycles.