Parts of Capitol Hill could see new King County Council representation under a draft plan by the county’s redistricting committee. The committee is nearing the home stretch and should wrap up within the next two months. Capitol Hill’s place straddling county District 2 and District 8 will be reshaped in the process.
As with pretty much every jurisdiction in the nation, district lines are re-drawn every 10 years after the U.S. Census Bureau releases its head count of how many people live in America, and just where those people live. At the federal level, it often results in congressional seats moving from slower-growing states to faster growing states.
That concept plays out in miniature across the various levels of government. In Washington, the state is busy re-drawing lines for its congressional and legislative districts. The commission drawing those maps, a five-member panel including Capitol Hill’s former state Rep. Brady Walkinshaw, has released a set of proposed maps, but the group still has a way to go.
The commission re-drawing Seattle’s City Council district lines is also working away on its own maps.
At the county level, new maps were recently released which reflect radically different growth rates across the county.
After the 2010 census, each of King County’s nine council districts were drawn to have a little more than 214,000 people in them. But lots of new people have come to the county since then. The target number for council districts in this go-round is 252,186 people per district. The actual numbers won’t hit that precisely, but they’ll be pretty close.
Each of the nine districts has grown. According to a presentation on the county redistricting page, the growth rates have ranges from about 29,000 to about 59,000. The fastest growing area was District 4, which encompasses Northwest Seattle, from the city limits south to also include Magnolia, Queen Anne and South Lake Union. Slowest growing was District 9, which included the southern portion of Bellevue, Newcastle, parts of Renton, and then extends southeast through unincorporated areas, and the cities of Black Diamond, Covington and Maple Valley.
The bulk of Capitol Hill is in District 2, one of the slower-growing parts of the county, it turns out. The district stretches between Lake Washington and I-5. It includes the University District, then heads south stopping at Renton’s northern city limits.
A chunk of Capitol Hill, however, is in District 8; the portion from 14th Ave west to I-5, between Mercer and Yesler Way. District 8 continues on to the southwest, covering West Seattle and continuing on covering large parts of Burien, Sea-Tac and Tukwila and even out to Vashon Island.
While both districts grew, neither grew enough to keep pace with the average. District 2 added about 33,700 people, about 4,400 shy of that ideal district size. District 8 came closer, adding about 30,400 people, but still needing to add about 1,500 people.
Meanwhile, District 4 will need to contract by more than 21,000 people. Districts 6 and 3, both on the Eastside will also need to shrink, by 2,200 and 8,700 people respectively.
All this growing and shrinking can mean changes for parts of the neighborhood. We’re going to describe the proposed changes as best we can, but really, it might be best to look at the proposed maps. In all three options, the bulk of Capitol Hill remains in District 2.
Under Option A, the chunk of the Hill in District 8 remains in District 8. Though that plan also has District 2 sticking a thumb out westward a bit to encompass South Lake Union. It would also add the area just south of Boeing Field
Under Option B, Capitol Hill is united in District 2. The district grows to the southwest to the Duwamish River, which it would follow south to just south of Boeing Field. It lops off the northern portion of the U District.
Option C also unites the entire neighborhood. It also adds about half of downtown and South Lake Union to District 2. It completely removes the U District, putting the district’s northern boundary at the Montlake Cut. It would also add the area around Boeing Field and south of Georgetown on the west side of I-5.
It’s worth noting, in these partisan political times, that the county council is officially a non-partisan body. In reality, there’s a six democrat, three republican split, and everybody kind of wink and nod knows who’s on which side of the line.
None of the maps will do anything to change that split. The election might, but the maps won’t.
Meanwhile, Councilmember Kathy Lambert, one of the “not Republicans” up for election in November, is facing heavy criticism and was stripped of her leadership roles after sending out a mailer criticizing her challenger Sarah Perry which was wildly racist featuring District 2 representative Girmay Zahilay after coming in with only about 40% of the vote in the primary.
Now that the draft maps are out in the wild, the commission wants to hear what people think about them. There will be a series of four Town Hall meetings, all conducted over Zoom, to gather input on the proposals. They are scheduled for 2 PM October 17, 19 and 20, and 7 PM October 21st. The website has details on how to attend and comment.
Once those meetings are complete, the redistricting committee will work to incorporate the feedback before releasing another draft and holding a formal, final public hearing in November or December, then adopting the new districts by the end of the year.
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