P.G. City Council chooses a voting district map for first time.

In a historic vote, the Pacific Grove City Council unanimously chose a map containing six voting districts during its meeting on Wednesday, March 5. The seven-member council also unanimously chose a sequence for how the councilmember seats for those districts will be filled in the next two elections in 2026 and 2028.

All six current members will hold onto their seats until their current terms end. (The mayor is elected at-large and is unaffected by the new districts.)

The change to districts is potentially good news for what will soon be known as District 3, a neighborhood located in the northeastern corner of the city on the border with Monterey and the Monterey Bay Aquarium. In at least modern history there have been no councilmembers living in that part of the city. Meanwhile, major decisions have been made regarding that section, most notably the American Tin Cannery, slated to become a luxury resort.

P.G. moved toward establishing voting districts after facing potential legal action by the League of United Latin American Citizens District 12 under the California Voting Rights Act. The group demanded in 2022 and again last year that the city move to district elections or face a lawsuit. It was clear from California court decisions that challenging LULAC’s demand would result in a loss for the city, resulting in millions of dollars to be paid out to LULAC and in court costs.

The council decided last September to begin the process toward districting, with a deadline of mid-March to avoid a lawsuit. A consultant, Jeff Tilton of National Demographics Corporation, was chosen and the first of several public hearings was held in November.

Residents were given the opportunity to make and submit maps either using an online tool or on paper. There were 21 maps submitted—20 were submitted before a hearing on Feb. 5 and one was submitted after that hearing but before the deadline.

It was a challenging exercise since the districts, based on the 2020 census of 15,120 residents, had to contain 2,521 people each, with a variation of no more than 10 percent. California voting law also requires that the districts be contiguous, meaning districts must share borders with neighboring districts.

On Feb. 5, the council narrowed 20 maps down to six. The map that came in after the hearing was included in the final hearing held on Wednesday, bringing the total under consideration to seven.

The leading favorite during that meeting was Map 101 (pictured above), with four councilmembers listing it as their favorite. It was the map that most closely followed the already established districts for the Pacific Grove Unified School District.

“I am a 101 person,” said Mayor Nick Smith, who listed as his reasons that the map closely aligns with PGUSD districts, as well as keeps neighborhoods more or less in “a nice format.” It creates three coastal districts, and benefits the Lighthouse business district, he said.

Councilmembers Chaps Poduri, Joe Amelio and Paul Walkingstick had similar reasons for choosing Map 101.

Despite Councilmembers Cynthia Garfield, Tina Rau and Lori McDonnell citing other maps as their preferred choices, when it came time for a vote, they joined in with their colleagues who favored Map 101.

Next the council had to decide on sequencing of when each district would go up for election, as well as what number each district would have.

It was decided that newly created District 1 (where McDonnell and Garfield currently live), District 3 (No representative) and 5 (no representative) will go up for election in 2026.

District 2 (Walkingstick), District 4 (Rau) and District 6 (Amelio and Poduri), would go up for election in 2028.

In District 1, McDonnell’s and Garfield’s terms both end in 2026, which means if they both wanted to run again, they would have to go head to head or move to another district.

In District 6, Amelio cannot run in2026 due to term limits; Poduri’s term ends in 2028.

Districts 3 and 5 will be wide open for candidates in 2026.

Poduri asked what would happen if a councilmember whose term is up in 2028 in one district moves to another district, but loses, would that member retain their seat? The answer from legal counsel was "yes."