Proposed city redistricting evens out ward population

Steve Sebelius

Thursday, March 28, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Tinkering with Las Vegas ward maps, city employees have brought all four districts into near-equal populations, the final legal hurdle in getting the new districts approved.

Public hearings on city ward reapportionment are slated for April, and the plan could be in place as soon as April 17.

Under the latest revisions -- minor changes all -- a chunk of land bordered by Lake Mead Boulevard, Vegas Drive, Rainbow and Jones boulevards will be shifted from Ward 4 to Ward 1.

In addition, another two precincts between Alta Drive, Charleston Boulevard, Torrey Pines Drive and Jones will go from Ward 2 to Ward 1.

Under the new plan, the biggest population gap will be between Ward 2, with 94,997 people, and Ward 3, with 104,417. That's a 9 percent difference. Under federal standards, differences of up to 10 percent are allowed.

Ward 1 contains 98,131 under the new plan, and Ward 4 has 95,976.

Earlier maps with greater divisions were changed after City Attorney Brad Jerbic said they could be challenged under the federal "one-man, one-vote" standard, which holds that districts should be roughly equal so votes in one count the same as votes in another.

However, the biggest changes in the original redistricting -- putting West Las Vegas and the Union Pacific property near downtown into Ward 3, which encompasses eastern Las Vegas, and extending a "leg" to put upscale Canyon Gate County Club in Ward 1 -- remain unchanged in the new map.

Under the city charter, redistricting must be done every 10 years after the census is taken, but the City Council can draw new lines whenever the populations between districts grow greater than 5 percent. Under the current map, populations vary wildly from 77,016 in Ward 1 to 100,464 in Ward 4, a difference of 23 percent.

Racially, Wards 1, 2 and 4 will have an overwhelming majority of white residents, based on 1990 census information. Ward 3, however, will see a marked increase in black and Hispanic residents, creating a possible minority-coalition district.