NW Wyoming News

City of Riverton recently issued the following announcement.

The Riverton City Council completed the redistricting process and adopted a new district map on February 15, 2022. This follows redistricting efforts at the state and county levels, as required by law following the release of U.S. Census data every 10 years.

“The redistricting process went very smoothly this year,” said Riverton Mayor Trent Staggs. “I appreciate Councilmember McCay’s leadership in proposing new boundary lines and the other councilmembers for working together to approve a map which I think I will serve our city well.”

The map divides the city up into five districts of relatively equal population. Each district is represented by a councilmember who lives in and is elected by voters in that district. District numbering remained consistent with the old map. Approximately 2,700 residents out of the city’s 45,285 were moved into a new district.

“There was a desire from councilmembers to keep their districts as similar as possible to their current form to preserve neighborhoods and maintain natural geographic boundaries,” said Riverton Councilmember Tawnee McCay. “I believe we landed on a map that will adequately and fairly represent Riverton residents for the next 10 years.”

The most significant changes from the former map to the new map include:

• District 1, represented by Councilmember Sheldon Stewart: This was the largest district by population, and therefore, had to be reduced in size. The new district excludes the Western Springs neighborhood east of Mountain View Corridor on the city’s west side. The district was left under the ideal population to account for imminent growth in the coming Edge Homes’ Mountain Ridge development and SALT’s Village Lofts at Mountain View Village.
• District 2, represented by Councilmember Troy McDougal: The boundary size was reduced just slightly in the portion of the district that is east of 2700 W near the northern edge of the city.
• District 3, represented by Councilmember Tawnee McCay: The eastern boundary was moved to be flush along 2700 W. The western boundary was extended to Mountain View Corridor to include the Western Springs neighborhood. This district was also left under the ideal population to account for imminent growth.
• District 4, represented by Councilmember Tish Buroker: The boundary size was increased slightly to include some area along the east side of 2700 W near the northern edge of the city.
• District 5, represented by Councilmember Claude Wells: The district boundaries grew slightly to be flush with 2700 W and include all areas that are both east of 2700 W and south of 12600 S.

Below is a summary of the new population of each district, as of the 2020 U.S. Census, as it compares to the population if the city were divided exactly even between districts:

District	Average Population	New Population
District 1 - Stewart	9,057	8,652*
District 2 - McDougal	9,057	9,109
District 3 - McCay	9,057	8,571*
District 4 - Buroker	9,057	9,570
District 5 - Wells	9,057	9,383
	45,285	45,285

* = Left under the ideal population to account for imminent growth on the west side of Riverton in the next 1-2 years.

Ordinance No. 22-07, which included the new council district boundaries, was adopted unanimously. Click here to view the newly adopted map or here to view the former map.

Original source can be found here.