Districting is different than most issues that come before the City Council. Instead of being limited to saying you support or oppose a City-prepared ordinance or resolution, you can draw a map yourself!
There are three map-drawing tools available below:
- Paper-only maps
- An Microsoft Excel supplement for the paper maps
- A powerful, but also complicated, online map-drawing tool
You can draw the borders of your neighborhood and indicate whether you want it united in one district or if you want your neighborhood to have multiple Councilmembers representing it. Or draw a proposed Council district. Or sketch an entire citywide map of 5 Council districts.
Draw whatever you want the Council to consider and submit it to Placentia@NDCresearch.com. Then the City’s demographic consultants will generate the population and other demographic details for your proposed map.
After you draw your proposed plan(s), be sure to compare them with the other maps posted to the Draft Maps page.
Initial Draft maps Due by March 10th
The release of the initial draft maps is only the beginning of the mapping process, not the end. When users of the online tool submit their maps, they can also opt to “share” their maps as new templates for all users of the system.
After the initial deadline on March 10th, residents can use the online districting tool (or any other method) to draft and submit initial draft map revisions for public and Council consideration as the process moves forward.
Paper/PDF-Based Map Drawing
The simplest approach to drawing a map proposal is to draw your proposed map on any city map, or use the participation kit map (in English or in Spanish) to draw your proposed districts and calculate the total population.
Microsoft Excel Supplement
Are you familiar with the basic functions of Microsoft Excel? Then you can let Excel do the total population and demographic math for you. If you click on the link (in English or in Spanish), you can save the Excel file to your computer. Then use the Excel file and the Map of Population Unit ID numbers from the interactive review map to assign the Population Units to your desired districts, and Excel will provide the resulting demographics for each district.
Interactive Public Participation Kit Supplement
If you want to see exactly where the various Population Unit boundaries are located, or if you have difficulty reading the small print on the 8.5×11 PDF files, you can use an interactive map to zoom in and out on the Population Unit boundaries and population counts. It works like Google Maps, except you use check-boxes to choose what layers and labels you want to see on the map. Once released, the Draft Maps will be available as layer options on this same map.)
Online Districting Tool
The most powerful map-drawing tool, but also the most difficult to use, is the online districting tool here at this link. This tool enables you to draw districts Census Block by Census Block, just like the professional demographers. You can fine-tune your district lines and see, in detail, the resulting demographics as you draw your map.
But with this power comes complexity: this tool can be challenging to figure out at first. So before you log in, be sure to review the following helpful guides:
- A series of short, 90 to 120 second, training videos
- Quick Start Guide in English or en Español
- One-Page tool reference sheet in English and en Español.
Supplemental Maps
(PDF files for viewing or printing. Additional maps may be added as requested by Council or the public.):