Opinion ID: 2638703
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: Douglas, Pueblo, Boulder, and Jefferson Counties

Text: Based upon the 2000 census, the ideal population for each house district is 66,173 persons and for each senate district is 122,-893 persons. The Adopted Plan denies Douglas, Pueblo, Boulder and Jefferson Counties whole senate districts within their boundaries for which they qualify based upon the Commission's ideal population projection. We have prepared the following chart to illustrate this. The chart depicts only those counties qualifying for whole senate districts within their boundaries. The chart arrays the number of whole districts these counties qualify for, in comparison to the number of whole counties the Commission allotted them. Underscoring in the chart shows the discrepancy between the number of whole senate districts the county qualified for based on its population, in contrast to the number the Adopted Plan allocates to it. The materials before us on review contain two alternatives that the Commission had before it. The chart portrays the number of whole districts the alternative plans would allocate to each of these counties. Because we cannot draw the apportionment map for the Commission, we employ the alternative plans only for comparison purposes to show the availability of less drastic alternatives to the Adopted Plan in regard to county divisions. ------------------------------------------------------- Whole Senate District Allocations: [6] --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total 2000 Adopted Rodriguez Wells 37 County Population Census Plan 5 Alt. Alt. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Adams 363,857 2.96 2 2 2 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Arapahoe 487,967 3.97 3 4 4 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Boulder 291,288 2.37 [7] 1 1 2 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Denver 554,636 4.51 4 4 4 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Douglas 175,766 1.43 0 1 1 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- El Paso 516,929 4.21 4 4 4 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jefferson 527,056 4.29 3 3 4 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Larimer 251,494 2.05 2 2 2 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pueblo 141,472 1.15 0 1 1 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weld 180,936 1.47 1 1 1 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Adopted Plan divides Douglas County between Senate Districts 2 and 30. Senate District 2 combines part of Douglas County with Elbert, Kit Carson, Lincoln, and Washington Counties. Senate District 30 combines part of Douglas County with part of Arapahoe County. The Adopted Plan divides Pueblo County between Senate Districts 3 and 4. Senate District 3 combines part of Pueblo County with Baca, Bent, Cheyenne, Crowley, Kiowa, Las Animas, Otero, and Prowers Counties. Senate District 4 combines part of Pueblo County with part of El Paso County. The Commission explains that the Douglas County and Pueblo County divisions are the product of drawing the Adopted Plan starting with plains counties at Colorado's eastern border to form three senate plains districts, then working west. When the Commission arrived at the populous front range, equal population requirements drove the Douglas County and Pueblo County divisions. The Commission's starting point thereby had the effect of painting the Commission into a corner when it arrived at district line drawing of the populous Eastern Slope counties: One hallmark of the Final Plan for the Senate is the creation of three Senate districts on the eastern plains. All three districts keep rural counties whole and extend from the Kansas border to the growing communities of the Front Range. Equal population requirements drive the split of Weld County in district 1, Douglas County in district 2, and Pueblo County in district 3. ... Having finished district 3 in Pueblo county and having made the decision to keep all counties whole in district 5, the only choice left for the Commission to achieve equal population in district 4 was to add a portion of El Paso County to the remaining portion of Pueblo County. District 4 preserves the many common interests shared by northwestern Pueblo and southern El Paso counties (such as the I-25 transportation corridor, the growth issues facing front range communities, and their similar socio-economic characteristics).... The portion of Douglas County left over after completing district 2 was too small to form its own district and therefore it was added to the remaining population in Arapahoe County to form district 30. Legal Memorandum and Explanatory Materials in Support of Final Plan for Districts in the Senate and House of Representatives, 16-21 (emphasis added). The Commission justified the Douglas County and Pueblo County divisions on a community of interest extending from Colorado's eastern border into portions of urban and suburban front range populations. The Adopted Plan divides Boulder County between Senate Districts 18 and 19. Senate District 18 combines part of Boulder County with parts of Adams, Jefferson, and Weld Counties. Senate District 19 combines part of Boulder County with part of Jefferson County, Clear Creek and Gilpin Counties. The Commission again relied on a community of interest rationale to justify the Boulder County division: The Final Plan honors the boundaries of Broomfield by keeping it whole in district 18. Since Broomfield's population of approximately 40,000 is far lower than the ideal, part of a neighboring county had to be added to complete the district. The Commission decided to draw from Boulder County for this purpose and combined Broomfield with Superior and the southern portion of the City of Boulder. These communities are all located along the Denver-Boulder Turnpike and share transportation and growth concerns.... Boulder County's population, prior to the creation of Broomfield, entitled it to 2.37 Senate seats. After deducting the Boulder County population used to finish district 18, Boulder County is entitled to 1.5 districts. The full district is district 17, which unites the east Boulder County communities of Longmont, Louisville, Lafayette, and Erie. The Commission combined the remainder of Boulder County with Clear Creek and Gilpin counties and the unallocated portion of Jefferson County to form district 19. District 19 encompasses many of the foothills communities. Id. at 18-19 (emphasis added). The Adopted Plan divides Jefferson County between Senate Districts 19 and 23. Senate District 19 combines part of Jefferson County with part of Boulder County, Clear Creek and Gilpin Counties. Senate District 23 combines parts of Jefferson and Adams Counties. The Commission justified the Jefferson County division on the basis of equal population constraints and the need to minimize division of the City of Westminster: Districts 22, 21, and 20 work their way from south to north along the Douglas/Arapahoe/Denver boundary shared with Jefferson County. The northernmost district, district 23, crosses into Adams County to achieve equal population and to make it possible to include Westminster in only two Senate districts (districts 23 and 26). The irregular boundary on the north side of district 23 is caused by the boundary of the City and County of Broomfield. Id. at 18. It therefore appears from the Commission's rationale that it considered itself at liberty to start the cartography of reapportionment at any point of Colorado geography it might choose. Because of this approach, the Commission faced the consequence of county divisions that appear inevitable to meet equal population requirements. But, the constitutional criteria instead contemplate the Commission taking an overview of Colorado's population by county, then generating a map that respects the state's legal preference for county integrity, then applying minimization of city divisions, compactness, contiguity, and community of interest criteria to add portions of counties to other counties in forming districts, when necessary. The Commission relies on a community of interest rationale to support denying whole county seats to counties that qualify for them, but this is the least weighty of the Section 46 and 47 criteria. The Commission's reordering of the criteria offends the constitution. In re Reapportionment 82, 647 P.2d at 194. While the Commission has discretion to make necessary compromises, In re Reapportionment 92-I, 828 P.2d at 195-96; In re Reapportionment 82, 647 P.2d at 197, it cannot advance the lesser community of interest criteria over the greater requirement not to make county divisions unless necessary to meet equal population requirements. That the Final Plan  yet to be established  can more certainly conform to the constitutional criteria than the Adopted Plan is demonstrated by the Rodriguez 5 senate alternative and the Wells 37 senate alternative. Each reveals the availability of less drastic county division alternatives. Both illustrate that Douglas and Pueblo Counties can have one whole senate district entirely within their boundaries, apparently within the Section 46 equal population no more than five percent deviation criteria. The Wells 37 senate alternative also illustrates the availability of providing Boulder County with two whole senate districts and Jefferson County with four whole senate districts.