The city of Chula Vista could be broken up into four electoral districts with two districts on the west side of the city and two on the east side, according to a newly created draft districting plan.
A blue colored district represents the southwest portion of the city and an orange colored district covers the northwest area, which separates the Castle Park and Hilltop neighborhoods. L Street divides the two districts.
The blue district stretches from the 805 out into the bay and also encompasses the Montgomery area.
Theresa Acerro, a board member with the Southwest Chula Vista Civic Association, said she is pleased with the way the map is drawn out.
“What they finally adopted left the Southwest intact,” she said. “And of course that’s what I’m most interested in, and I’m glad and hopefully in the end it’s going to be all intact. That’s very important.”
The orange district incorporates the bayfront, central and downtown Chula Vista. It also includes a section of Interstate- 805 toward Terra Nova.
Interstate 805 serves as the barrier that separates the east and west sides.
The east side districts include a purple district and green district.
The purple district cuts into the South Bay Expressway and adopts most of the Eastlake area to include Eastlake Sshores and Eastlake Village.
The purple district also incorporates the Rancho del Rey community.
The green district goes from Otay Lakes Road to Hunte Parkway. The district covers the Otay Ranch neighborhood.
Jerome Torres, chairman of the Chula Vista Districting Commission, said that while the west side districts are created in pre-dominantly Latino-based communities, the east side districts present more of a challenge moving forward.
“The east side is really racially and culturally diverse,” he said. “And that’s going to be the challenge ahead of us. How are we going to address the diversity in the recommended plan?”
Torres said the four districts were largely created by public testimony that identified communities of interest.
Community members can provide feedback to the district commission about the drafted map at a May 12 meeting.
“The next round of meetings is going to be crucial and the reason being is no doubt people are going to tell us what they like about the plan and what they don’t like about the plan,” he said. “And that’s what we need to focus on.”
Torres said he expects the drafted map to evolve with community input.
“It’s a very good start but we have a long way to go,” he said. “It’s an unfinished product.”
The districts are currently identified by colors, but Torres said numbers would eventually be assigned to each district nearing its approval.
Torres said he expects the commission to develop a final recommended map on June 8.
He said he expects the city council to vote on the final recommendation in June.
