Transition to District Elections
The City of Santa Clarita currently has an at-large election system, which means that registered Santa Clarita voters elect the five City Councilmembers regardless of where the candidates reside in the City. Pursuant to the terms of a settlement agreement, the City will institute district-based elections for the City Council seats, starting with the 2024 City Council election. In this new, by-district election system, the City of Santa Clarita will be divided into five districts, and each voter within a district may cast one vote for a candidate residing within that same district.
The City has always operated staggered elections, so two seats will be up in November 2024. Regular elections will continue to be consolidated with statewide general elections in November of even-numbered years to fill expired City Council terms. Councilmembers serve staggered four-year terms, so the remaining three district seats will be up for election starting in November of 2026.
All meetings will be streamed live on Zoom and a video recording will be posted after the meeting.
Draft Maps
The project began with the Joint Draft Map, which is the map the City and plaintiffs agreed upon as a starting point:
Click the map above to view an interactive district map.
| Map | Submitter | Notes |
| Joint Draft Map | Council & Plaintiffs | Agreed-upon starting point |
| 101 | Tony Maldonado | |
| 102 | Tony Maldonado | Not population balanced |
| 103 | Tony Maldonado | |
| 104 | Tony Maldonado | Not population balanced |
| 105 | Tony Maldonado | Not population balanced |
| 106 | Tony Maldonado | Not population balanced |
| 107 | Chamber of Commerce | |
| 108 | Alan Ferdman | Amends JDM to put Happy Valley in District 2 |
| 109 | Mike Crawford | Amends JDM to unite Circle J in District 2 |
| 110 | NDC | Combination of Map 107 and additional small neighborhood cleanup corrections. Here is a memo detailing the changes. |
| 111 | Tony Maldonado | |
| 112 | Tony Maldonado | Not population balanced |
| 113 | NDC | Compilation of many previous requested changes and potentially final tune-up of the map. Here is a memo detailing the changes. |
Draw A Map
Santa Clarita has developed several public mapping tools to assist the public in drawing maps. There are different tools for different purposes, and different tools for different levels of technical skill and interest.
Available mapping tools include:
1. Paper-only maps for those without internet access or who prefer paper.
- Public Participation Kit – Paper Map w/ Population Count
- Please use a thick dark-colored pen or different colors to draw your map, then submit it by mail, in person, or by email to DrawSC@santa-clarita.com.
- Alternatively, submit any form of hand-drawn map.
2. Dave’s Redistricting App (DRA), a simple online map drawing tool to easily draw neighborhoods or communities of interest.
DRA allows members of the community to create and submit proposed city council district maps. Use the resources below, including a step-by-step “How To Guide” and video tutorials to learn how DRA works.
PDF “How To Guide”
Video tutorials (YouTube):
Quick Instructions:
- On the main website, register to create a user account to draw a trustee area map.
- Once you have made an account, you can access the Santa Clarita template and click the paintbrush icon to “Make an editable copy of this map.”
- Once you have drawn your map, please email a link to map and the plan name that you published to DrawSC@santa-clarita.com (otherwise the District will not know you have drawn it and will be unable to include it in their deliberations).
3. Interactive Review Map to review, analyze, and compare maps, not to create them. Zoom in and out on map boundaries, search for addresses and other locations, and view draft maps. Similar to Google Maps in ease of use.
Submit maps to DrawSC@santa-clarita.com. After you submit your map, the demographic consultants will generate the population and other demographic details for your proposed map. Maps can be viewed on the Draft Maps page or on the Interactive Review Map.
It is helpful if you submit written comments with your map describing how your map was drawn to meet the required criteria. An example of this would be describing the specific neighborhoods or communities of interest that are kept within a single district.
If you would like to submit a map created using your own software, please email to DrawSC@santa-clarita.com and include: (1) a GIS Shapefile and/or a Census Block equivalency file; and, (2) a description of the choices and key points of your map.
Schedule
| Date/Time/Location | Meeting Type | Information |
| February 22, 2023 | Starting point map published online | |
March 1, 2023 Newhall Community Center | First public hearing – Demographer will give presentation on mapping requirements and introduce use of public mapping tool for public to submit maps. Council take public testimony. | Here is the link to the DRA public mapping tool * Here is the brief and here is the in-depth video introductions to the DRA mapping tool Here is a written how-to guide to the DRA mapping tool Download English PDF Public Participation Map Download Spanish PDF Public Participation Map |
| April 3, 2023 5:00 p.m. | Public generated maps due to demographer. | |
| April 6, 2023 | Demographer publishes public maps on website | View Public Maps View PDF Public Maps |
April 13, 2023 City Council Chambers | Second public hearing. Council provides direction to demographer regarding any changes to starting point map based upon public map submissions and public testimony. | |
| April 21, 2023 5:00 p.m. | Revised public generated maps due to the demographer | |
May 1, 2023 City Council Chambers | City Council continued the Public Hearing to May 30, 2023. | View PDF Public Maps View Presentation |
May 30, 2023 City Council Chambers | City Council conducts first reading of the ordinance adopting the Council District Map. | |
June 13, 2023 Regular City Council Meeting | At the regular City Council meeting the Council will conduct the second reading of the ordinance adopting the Council District Map. | View Adopted Ordinance |
Written Testimony
| Submitter | Message | Date |
| Stephen Petzold | View PDF Message | 5/30/2023 |
| Alan Ferdman | View PDF Message | 5/21/2023 |
| Trevor Leivo | View PDF Message | 5/5/2023 |
| Valerie Bradford | View PDF Message | 5/1/2023 |
| Scott J. Rafferty | View PDF Message | 5/1/2023 |
| Donna Kimberly McWilliams Escamillo | View PDF Message | 4/21/2023 |
| Tony Maldonado II | View PDF Message | Download Attachments | 4/21/2023 |
| Alan Ferdman | View PDF Message | 4/17/2023 |
| Judy Taylour | View PDF Message | 4/13/2023 |
| Scott J. Rafferty | View PDF Message | Download Attachments | 4/13/2023 |
| Peter Warda | View PDF Message | Download Attachment | 4/3/2023 |
| Joshua Alexander | View PDF Message | Download Attachments | 4/3/2023 |
| Alan Ferdman | View PDF Message | 3/3/2023 |
| Mike Crawford | View PDF Message | 3/2/2023 |
Contact Information
Phone:
(661) 255-4391
* This DRA link includes the Tessoro Annexation in the staring map. Please be sure to use this link, as any other link (or going through the DRA home page to create your own map) could result in a starting map that is missing the annexation.
