The process to set new council districts in Colorado Springs is underway.
The districts were last aligned in 2020. City Code and the City Charter both stipulate that a review of district alignment must happen every four years, in the even year period prior to an odd year election. The City Clerk is tasked with that project, assisted by a nine-member advisory group appointed by city council.
The city currently has six districts, with any number of precincts within each of those districts. The population of Colorado Springs has increased by thousands in the last four years, according to the city. The east side has seen substantial gains in population, most notably in Districts 2, 4, and 6.
The goal of district realignment is to redraw district boundaries so that each has roughly the same number of citizens contained therein. According to the clerk's office, a population count of somewhere between 80,000 and 85,000 people per district is the current desired size.
Three options for realignment were released last month for public review and comment. Each one offers some variation of moving certain precincts around along district boundaries to help even out those population numbers.
A newly released preliminary map from the clerk's office most closely resembles the third option, Option Map C.
Residents can view all of the options and leave comments on the city’s website ahead of a planned public meeting at the City Administration building on Oct. 30.
After that, the City Clerk will release a final report on the planned redistricting sometime between Nov. 4 and Dec. 2.
In addition to the new districts containing a roughly equal distribution of population, the plan must also comply with the Voting Rights Act and other pertinent laws.
The plan is not approved by the city council or the mayor.
