South County has officially split water-wise, and some are not
happy about the last-minute decision.
South County has officially split water-wise, and some are not happy about the last-minute decision.
The Santa Clara Valley Water District board Thursday morning adopted new boundaries that create seven districts and effectively separate Morgan Hill and San Martin from Gilroy.
Proponents say the split gives South County two representatives on the board. But opponents say it divides a region with unique agricultural capabilities and water needs.
The new map, which was produced at the tail end of a 12-hour meeting Tuesday, was supported in a 5-1 vote during a special meeting at the water district headquarters Thursday.
Patrick Kwok, who represents Palo Alto, Mountain View and the Los Altos area of the current District 5, was the only “no” vote. South County’s District 1 director Rosemary Kamei abstained.
The new District 1 includes San Martin, Morgan Hill, the Santa Teresa area and stretches to the top of the county border. The new District 7 includes Gilroy then sprawls north along the western border into Los Altos, Mountain View and Palo Alto.
“That’s not what Morgan Hill or Gilroy wanted,” said Santa Clara County Supervisor Don Gage. He said they wanted two representatives like before, one at-large and one in District 1, both representing South County.
“That map wasn’t scrutinized by anyone. They just jammed this thing through,” Gage said. “They had the opportunity to fix it. And instead they just slapped the public in the face and followed their own agenda.”
Directors said no map will fully satisfy everyone. The new map is the best option, they said, and was balanced to the best of the board’s ability.
A committee formed specifically to advise the water board on redistricting had met since January in at least 14 hours of public meetings to rifle through almost 20 maps of possible districts. They recommended to the board three maps, none of which resembles the map adopted by the board.
“This is just over the top,” said, Roland Velasco, an aide of Gage who served on the advisory committee Wednesday afternoon.
“I thought splitting South County was eliminated early on in the process, was the wrong way to go,” he said. “If I thought there was any merit, that’s what we would have recommended.” The only map that split South County into two separate districts was eliminated early on in the process.
Yet, it was because of the positions of Gilroy and Morgan Hill mayors Al Pinheiro and Steve Tate, as well as public input through letters and at meetings, that the board decided to draw the chosen map as it did.
“An opportunity was brought to our attention late last week to re-look at our assumptions on the possibility of having two separate districts for South County. With redistricting, it looked like we only had to have one seat. We made our recommendation based on what was the optimal way to redistrict,” Tate said at Morgan Hill’s city council meeting Wednesday.
Pinheiro said what the board drew was not what he and Tate had pictured when they lent their support of two districts in South County.
“We’re not happy the way the alignment ended up,” Pinheiro said. He said they advocated for a District 7 that included Los Gatos with Gilroy and did not stretch up to Palo Alto.
South County’s at-large director Cy Mann stood by the new map choice. It served the South County constituents, he said, and took into consideration their want to have two directors.
“Is everybody going to be happy? We can’t be going around and around on this,” Mann said. He said he felt everyone who wanted to be heard on the issue had the opportunity to do so.
The crux of the opposition at the meeting came from Kwok, who thought the decision lacked transparency and ignored the resolution to redistrict.
In the public participation kits online that asked residents to draw their own maps it said, “be careful not to split unnecessarily any obvious community of interest.”
Palo Alto’s City Manager James Keene said Palo Alto wrote a letter to the board Wednesday with concerns as to how the map was chosen and asked the board to review the three maps that were recommended by the advisory board. “These two cities (Palo Alto and Gilroy) are nearly one hour apart and the city questions how effectively one representative could serve constituents at the extreme ends of the valley.”
Mountain View’s Mayor Ronit Bryant also objected to the new map, calling it a “last-minute proposal” that does not consider geographical or “other logical community of interest.”
Kamei said repeatedly that she did not like the map but that it reflects what South County constituents want and also gives an opportunity to have two seats on the board for South County.
“I heard loud and clear that they were interested in two representatives in South County,” Kamei said. “If people felt this was overwhelmingly so bad, this room will be full. If you don’t like it, you need to offer a solution.”
Sylvia Hamilton, president of the San Martin Neighborhood Alliance, said the news of bisecting South County was simply nonsensical.
“It sounds like gerrymandering to me,” she said. “I think it was most likely a politically charged decision.”
In October 2009, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law Assembly Bill 466 that requires seven electoral districts be drawn through a formal redistricting process that must be completed in time for the November election. The water district must submit a street-by-street detailed map to the county registrar of voters on May 3, 180 days before the water board supervisorial election.
