County district boundary changes approved

COEUR d'ALENE — Kootenai County commissioners on Thursday unanimously approved tweaking the three commissioner districts to make the populations of each more even.

The decision could affect which district some future commission candidates run in because candidates must live in the district they're seeking a seat for.

The decision does not affect voting precincts or what races residents vote on as voting for commissioner candidates is countywide, not by individual districts. Commissioners also represent all Kootenai County residents, not just residents of the districts in which they live.

The changes included:

• Switching the Bayview area from District 2 to District 3

• Moving Dalton Gardens from District 3 to District 2

• Moving the Spirit Lake East area (west of Clagstone) from District 3 to District 1

• Switching the area on the south side of Hayden Lake from District 2 to District 3

All areas south of Interstate 90, Post Falls, Rathdrum, Athol and all areas west of Highway 41 remained unchanged.

"The goal of the changes was to balance the populations between the districts," said Dave Christianson, Kootenai County's GIS manager who prepared district boundary change proposals for the commissioners. "Additionally, we took into consideration of having an urban/rural balance in the districts. We wanted to create fairness and diversity."

The population spread had increased to more than 10,000 residents between Districts 2 and 3 before the boundary changes were made.

District 2, which is held by Commissioner David Stewart and encompasses the southern and eastern portions of the county, had 53,939 residents. District 3, held by Dan Green that includes the north-central side of the county, had 43,886 residents. District 1, held by Marc Eberlein that includes the west side of the county, was in the middle at 46,199 residents.

With the change, District 1 will have 48,721 residents, District 2 will have 47,674 and District 3 will have 47,629.

The last time the county changed and examined commissioner district boundaries was in 2012. Counties are urged to examine the boundaries based on population changes every two years prior to general elections, and commissioners admitted that it should have been done two years ago but was overlooked by the previous board.

Eberlein asked staff to pencil in proposed boundary changes on the agenda in the middle of year in 2017 rather than wait until late in the year before the election.

The county is expected to post a map of the new district boundaries by Monday at ftp://www.kcgov.us/PDF/Commissioner_Dist.pdf.

Commissioners are expected to adopt the resolution on the district changes on Tuesday.