Commissioners adjust district boundaries

Voters have new district boundaries for nominating county commissioner candidates.

Commissioners voted Tuesday to shift 16,150 people into a different district in order to balance populations among the three districts.

The redistricting was legally required in light of the 2010 Census figures released this year.

While each district nominates the top two candidates in the primary, the candidates run countywide in the general election.

Commissioner Steve Stuart, who represents District 3, was re-elected in 2010.

Commissioner Tom Mielke, who represents District 1, and Commissioner Marc Boldt, who hails from District 2, are both up for re-election in 2012.

Commissioners had ordered slight changes from proposed boundaries they reviewed in October. They wanted the lines to more closely follow precinct boundaries and roads.

The population growth in the past decade in east Vancouver and north county boosted District 2 (Vancouver east of Interstate 205, Camas, Washougal and Hockinson) to 150,489 people. District 1 (Hazel Dell, Salmon Creek, Felida and north county) was up to an estimated 149,533 people. District 3 (Vancouver west of I-205) only grew to an estimated 125,341 people.

Now each district has approximately 142,000 people.

Kelly Sills, the county’s economic development director who made the redistricting presentation, said 7,800 people were moved from District 1 to District 3 and 8,350 people were moved from District 2 to District 3.

The affected areas are in east Vancouver and Hazel Dell. In east Vancouver, people who live east of I-205, north of Mill Plain Boulevard, south of Northeast 18th Street and west of Northeast 152nd Avenue were moved into District 3. The affected precincts are 683, 682, 659 and 658.

In Hazel Dell, the affected precincts are 400, 410, 415 and 370. Those include people who live west and east of Highway 99. Ken Pearrow of the county’s Geographic Information Systems department said 415 was the only affected precinct that was divided.

The county needs to add at least a dozen precincts anyway because of a new state law requiring that precincts have no more than 1,500 people.

Maps are available on Clark County’s website.