The King County Districting Committee on Nov. 15 unanimously approved new King County Council district boundaries. The district plan, which has been filed with the Clerk of the Council and is effective immediately, leaves Issasquah and Sammamish unchanged.

District 3 includes all of Sammamish and Issaquah, half of Redmond and all Snoqualmie Valley cities

Plan materials are online at www.kingcounty.gov/districting.

At each stage of the committee’s 10-month-long process, the members requested ideas and input from the public. The Committee provided more than 20 opportunities for in-person comment, including eight public hearings held at locations across King County. More than 80 people testified in person and over 160 provided written testimony.

The committee also sought comments from elected officials from all 39 cities and the county’s state legislators asking for them to share their expertise and insight on the communities they represent.

Testimony resulted in numerous changes to the rough drafts released in June. For example, the committee revised earlier drafts in order to keep the north-end suburban cities in one district.

The committee also adopted internal rules to encourage transparency in their process. For instance, “Rule 5” required committee members to disclose at a public committee meeting the substance and context of any contacts with County Councilmembers, the County Executive, or any of their staff or representatives. Also to promote openness, several of the committee’s public meetings were work sessions where committee members worked interactively with the districting master to explore their redistricting ideas.

Council district boundaries must be redrawn after each U.S. Census to make each district as nearly equal in population as possible. All districts in the approved plan are within one-quarter of one percent of the 2011 council district target population of 214,583.

Minority population within King County has significantly increased over the past decade. Under the newly adopted plan, every district is more diverse than it was when the prior plan was approved in 2005.

Under the law, the new district boundaries must be compact, contiguous, and composed of economic and geographic units. To the extent feasible, the districts must correspond with the boundaries of existing municipalities, election precincts, census tracts, recognized natural boundaries, and preserve communities of related and mutual interest.

Population data may not be used for the purposes of favoring or disfavoring any racial group or political party.