Deadline to Submit Goleta District Elections Map is January 6

Source: City of Goleta

Beginning in November of 2022, the City will be divided into four districts of about 8,200 residents each, and voters in each district will elect a City Councilmember who lives in their own district. The Mayor will continue to be elected by voters across Goleta. Creating the boundaries of Goleta’s four Districts is important because it will determine how our neighborhoods will be represented on City Council. The process of creating districts has started and is more fully outlined at the special website that has been created, www.DrawGoleta.org.

The first step in the process is for residents to draw and submit maps proposing boundaries for Goleta’s four districts. The deadline to turn in a map for consideration for the City’s historic move to District Elections is January 6, 2022.

City of Goleta Mayor Paula Perotte said, “We hope Goleta residents will give the gift of participating in our historic District Elections map drawing process. I ask Goleta residents to please make some time to draw and submit a map by the January 6th deadline.”

To learn more about districting and how to submit either a paper map or a map online, please go to www.DrawGoleta.org. For more help, you can watch a “How to Draw a Map” video tutorial. To see some of the maps that others have already submitted, click here https://districtr.org/tag/goleta.

Note that maps submitted before the mapping tools were updated with the official Census 2020 population data on October 19, 2021, need to be resubmitted. Click here for tips on how to re-draw a map.

Important Dates:

January 6, 2022: Deadline for the public to submit draft maps.

January 19, 2022: Submitted draft maps will be available for review and comment on the Draft Maps page.

January 26, 2022, 6pm: The City’s Public Engagement Commission (PEC) will review the submitted draft maps at its meeting, take comments from the public, and make recommendations to the City Council.

February 1, 2022, and February 15, 2022: The City Council will review the PEC’s recommendations, take comments from the public, and begin their deliberations on selecting a draft map. Additional meetings may be added for more public comment and City Council deliberations, as needed.

Goleta residents can be involved in this process by participating in the meetings or submitting public comment ahead of time. An agenda with instructions on how to participate will be available prior to the meeting at this website: http://cityofgoleta.org/goletameetings.

For more information, go to www.DrawGoleta.org. For additional questions or assistance, please contact cityclerkgroup@cityofgoleta.org or call 805-961-7505. Thanks to all for your interest and participation in shaping the future of Goleta.