The starting point map which creates new city council districts for the city of Santa Clarita was released on Feb. 22.

The map, which was required by the terms of the settlement agreement in a lawsuit brought against the city to force by district elections of councilmembers, was created by the city and plaintiffs was posted at www.santa-clarita.com/city-hall/district-elections.

The city council will hold a public hearing on March 1, at 6 p.m. via Zoom and in person at the Newhall Community Center.

At this public hearing, the demographer, who will be helping with the technical aspects of map creation and population statistics, will give a presentation on the starting point map, mapping requirements and introduce the community to the public mapping tool, which will allow residents to create and submit their own map with their desired districts.

The city council will also take comments from the public. The public hearings will be streamed live on Zoom.

Following the first public hearing, the community will have until April 3, to submit their maps to the demographer.

On April 13, the second public hearing will be held, where the city Council will provide direction to the demographer regarding any changes to the starting point map, based upon the Council’s consideration of public map submissions and public comments.

Revised public generated maps are due to the demographer by April 21.

On May 3, the city council will conduct the first reading of the ordinance adopting the Council District map. The second reading will take place at the regular city council meeting on May 23.

The five new district boundaries will be determined before the 2024 election. The city has always operated staggered elections with two seats on the ballot in November 2024. Regular elections will continue to be consolidated with statewide general elections in November of even-numbered years to fill expired city council terms. Councilmembers serve staggered four-year terms, so the remaining three district seats will be up for election starting in November of 2026.