Council Hopeful Supervisors Keeping City in District 5

Cupertino City Council members were buoyed Tuesday night by the news that the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors is considering drawing new district lines that keep the city in District 5 with the surrounding foothills, including the Lehigh Southwest Cement Plant and Quarry.

“The most important thing is we’re still tied together with Lehigh Cement which is within our sphere of influence, and it looks like the Board of Supervisors ,” Mayor Gilbert Wong said.

The Supervisors focused on four possible maps during a public hearing on Tuesday afternoon, two that kept Cupertino and Saratoga together in District 5, and two that pushed Saratoga into District 1.

Council members agreed to support the first two maps, in part citing common interests with Saratoga. The first two also keep a section of Cupertino's school districts in District 5.

The next redistricting public hearing at the Board of Supervisors is Tuesday, June 21, at county headquarters, 70 W. Hedding St., San Jose.

Last month there was concern among the council that , based on maps considered by the Citizens Redistricting Commission. 

“There’s a lot of good news here,” reported Councilmember Orrin Mahoney at council, after having represented the city at the Supervisor’s meeting.

He said supervisors winnowed a list of 18 maps down to the four. Two of the maps—Map 1 and “Jackie May 19”— leave Cupertino and Saratoga in District 5, along with Lehigh. The other two—“LK Central” and “Sunnyvale E”— keep Cupertino in District 5 with Lehigh, but move Saratoga into District 1.

Wong said he could support the first two maps, but he could not “live with” the second two, because those maps would split off a chunk of the Cupertino Union School District and Fremont Union High School District from District 5. Both would take the West San Jose neighborhood bordered by Bollinger Avenue, Lawrence Expressway, Prospect Avenue and De Anza Boulevard, putting it in District 4.

Council members also expressed concern for Sunnyvale officials’ desire to remain in District 5 with the surrounding foothills.

During the three months of deliberations by the redistricting commission, Sunnyvale officials lobbied strongly for moving their entire 140,000-population city into District 5, instead of the current situation of being split between districts 5 and 3.

However, a state law requires that each district have roughly the same number of residents, roughly 356,000 each. By placing 86,000 of Sunnyvale’s District 3 residents into District 5, Supervisor’s would have no choice but to displace other cities, most likely Cupertino and Saratoga.

While the commissioners were sympathetic to the Sunnyvale officials’ desire to be united in one district, it appears the Supervisors are less so. The Supervisors could have chosen any of several maps presented by Sunnyvale to the commission, but instead focused on maps that keep Sunnyvale divided.

The new “Sunnyvale E” map brings more of Sunnyvale into District 5, leaving an area of the city north of Highway 101 in District 3.  “LK Central”, a map presented by Fifth District Supervisor Liz Kniss, divides Sunnyvale at Central Expressway. Map 1 and “Jackie May 19”, keep the division at El Camino Real, where it currently lies.