PORT ANGELES — The first public forum presenting Clallam County data for changing boundaries of county commission districts will be today.
The five-member Clallam County Districting Commission will host the forum at 2:30 p.m. in the commissioners’ meeting room (Room 150) at the Clallam County Courthouse, 223 E. Fourth St., Port Angeles.
Boundaries will shift for all three commissioner districts in Clallam County, effective in 2012, and the lines are likely to be redrawn somewhere between McDonald Creek in the east and Dry Creek in the west, said Don Corson, one of the two districting masters responsible for recommending new boundaries for the county’s three districts based on Census 2010 data.
Gene Unger, lead districting master, and Corson will present Census data, show growth in the county’s precincts, outline the process of realignment, display a map of present districts and seek public input.
Much of Clallam County’s population growth over the past 10 years was in the Sequim area, which is District No. 1.
The county grew by 6,879 people during that period, rising from 64,525 to 71,404.
“A significant part of the growth was in the Sequim area,” Corson said.
District No. 2 extends from Agnew into the east side of Port Angeles. District No. 3 covers the west side of Port Angeles and extends through the West End.
Because of a “ripple effect” west from District No. 1, “there’s no doubt” that boundaries will shift for all three Clallam County districts, Corson said.
The county charter requires the districting master to submit a draft proposal for the new districts to the commissioners by June 30.
Clallam is one of six charter counties in the state and the only county using the home-rule form of government on the North Olympic Peninsula.
The county charter requires a reconsideration of district boundary lines every 10 years using federal Census information to ensure that all three county commissioners have similar population bases, within 5 percent of each other.
District boundary lines run north-south.
The districting commission hired Unger and Corson on March 22. The Clallam County commissioners have approved an $8,500 contract for the districting masters.