To develop Wednesday’s preliminary options, Cary planners have estimated current district populations by building on data gathered during its 1998 special census and on the addition of occupied residences by analyzing utility billing and building permit data. However, a final decision on voting district boundaries cannot come until after the federal government releases the results of the 2000 census, expected in April.

Once the official numbers are available, Town staff will prepare the final option(s) for Council’s review based on direction from Wednesday’s worksession and send the preferred option(s) to public hearing on May 10^th, with a vote slated for May 24^th. On June 1^st, Town staff will then mail "change of district" notification letters to anyone whose voting district has been changed as a result of the May 24^th vote.

"The goal is to get all of this accomplished prior to the Town Council election filing opening date of July 23^rd for the October 9^th election, " said Planning Director Jeff Ulma.

In addition to the myriad of state and federal laws that must be met, Town staff has incorporated a list of goals set by the Town Council for developing the new district boundaries.

1. Keep major neighborhoods/developments in single Council districts.

The Town will make every effort to avoid splitting neighborhoods between districts. However, the location of precinct boundaries and the need to balance district populations may make some splitting unavoidable.

2. Use existing district boundaries as the starting point for making changes to Council district boundaries.

Instead of totally scrapping the existing district configuration, the Town will make changes to existing district boundaries at the edges.

3. Projected future growth should be considered when establishing district boundaries.

To maintain the population integrity of the new district design for as long as possible, the Town will use approved site plans, subdivisions and planned unit developments to anticipate residential growth during the next five years in balancing district populations. This means that one or two districts with large amounts of residential development in the pipeline may be purposely undersized (based on the 2000 Census) knowing that the districts will grow into balance by 2003-2005. However, districts will be undersized only to the extent allowed by redistricting law.

4. Place older Cary neighborhoods within two or more Council districts.

Placing older Cary neighborhoods within multiple Council districts will help ensure that the districts contain a mix of housing stock, age of population, type of housing, and incomes. This will help provide district populations that reflect a diverse mix of issues, needs and interests. Mixing older neighborhoods among two or more Council districts will also help ensure that the downtown area is represented by more than one Council member. For this redistricting, "older Cary neighborhoods" are defined as neighborhoods that were within the Town limits before 1980.

5. District boundaries should follow major geographic features such as roads and highways.

The Town will focus on boundaries that can be clearly conveyed to constituents. For the most part, this will be accomplished by using Wake County voting precinct boundaries as the "building blocks" for modifying Council districts since precinct lines tend to follow major roads.

Cary's last redistricting was performed in 1991, after the 1990 Census counted Cary's population at 43,461.

###