City Council has redrawn boundaries in an effort to better balance the population sizes of its five wards.
At its regular meeting Tuesday, council voted to approve a new map to more evenly distribute population among the wards. Council members agreed they must redraw the boundaries, because Ward 2, which covers parts of western Broomfield, has experienced a boom in population since the lines were last reset in 2009, and growth seems likely to continue at a more rapid pace than in other wards.
Council had three proposed map configurations from which to choose, but agreed on a map that only makes minor changes to the boundaries and spreads out the population of Ward 2.
A part of Ward 2 that includes the Lac Amora neighborhood will become part of Ward 3. Another small Ward 2 neighborhood south of 120th Avenue and east of Main Street will become part of Ward 1.
A small, oddly-shaped piece of The Broadlands north of 136th Avenue that encompasses a part of Broadlands Court, formerly part of Ward 3, is now part of Ward 4, according to the new map.
The new map configuration does not change Ward 5 boundaries.
The changes will take effect Wednesday, according to a staff memo.
The new map doesn’t affect too many residents, but Broomfield might have to revisit the redistricting process in a few years when populations change again, said Mayor Pro Tem Greg Stokes.
“I appreciate the map, though it doesn’t change a lot,” he said. “We may have to make changes sooner than the next 10 years.”
Broomfield is obligated to update ward boundaries every 10 years, meaning council technically had until 2019 to make changes.
Council has been discussing how to update ward boundaries for several months. In previous meetings, members were split on how to address population imbalances, especially because the discussion came in a council election year.
At a March 10 study session, some council members said they were supportive of making small changes to the boundaries, but others made the case for waiting to until after the November election or closer to 2019, when future population trends would become more clear.
When Broomfield last adjusted the wards in 2009, council expected the boundaries to be more or less balanced for about 10 years. When newer developments in areas such as Arista and along Via Varra started to pop up, more people began to move into Ward 2.
Before council voted to change the boundaries, about 15,725 people lived in Ward 2, and another 1,900 were expected to move there in the next year, according to a staff memo.
With the new configurations, Ward 2 has an estimated 11,837 people, which is closer to the populations of the other wards, according to the memo.
Meanwhile, prior to the change Ward 3 had the smallest population of 11,173, with no expectation for significant population growth. The ward includes some of the city’s older neighborhoods, such as Broomfield Heights, and northern neighborhoods, such as Aspen Creek.
With the newly adopted configuration, the Ward 3 population will be closer to 12,942 people.
The new ward boundaries do not affect current council members, because Broomfield charter states boundary changes should not exclude council members from office before the expiration of their terms.
Council members whose terms expire in November are Todd Schumacher in Ward 1, Mike Shelton in Ward 2, Kevin Jacobs in Ward 3, Dennis Harward in Ward 4 and David Beacom in Ward 5.
Beacom, who was appointed to fill the seat after former council member Wayne Anderson moved out of Ward 5, was sworn in at the meeting on Tuesday.
Megan Quinn: 303-410-2649, [email protected] or twitter.com/MeganQuinn2
