Districts are being created to comply with state law and to support fair and equitable representation. To the extent practicable, district boundaries will be drawn using the following criteria:

• Districts must be geographically contiguous (each district shares a common border).
• Neighborhoods and communities should be kept together whenever possible.
• City boundaries should be respected and minimally divided.
• District lines should follow clearly identifiable features, such as streets, highways, rail lines, or natural barriers.
• Districts should be compact in shape.
• Districts may not be drawn to favor or discriminate against any political party or individual.

Districting will not affect your collection schedules or service levels. The only change is how Board Members are elected.

Community participation is an important part of the districting process. The District encourages public input to help identify and consider communities of interest, which are neighborhoods or groups that share common social, economic, or geographic characteristics and would benefit from being represented within the same district.

Opportunities for participation include:

• Public hearings (community meetings)
• Online tools to submit, review, and comment on draft district maps
• Public comment to the Board of Directors

Multiple public hearings will be held across the District. Initial hearings will gather community input before draft maps are prepared. Additional hearings will allow the public to review and comment on proposed district maps before adoption. 

Meeting details will be posted in advance on the District's website, Board agendas, and official social media channels.

• Tuesday, February 24, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. at the Oro Loma Sanitary District (2655 Grant Ave, San Lorenzo)
• Tuesday, March 24, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. at San Leandro Senior Community Center (13909 E 14th St, San Leandro)
• Tuesday, April 14, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. at the Oro Loma Sanitary District (2655 Grant Ave, San Lorenzo)
• Tuesday, May 12, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. at the Oro Loma Sanitary District (2655 Grant Ave, San Lorenzo)
• Tuesday, May 26, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. at the Oro Loma Sanitary District (2655 Grant Ave, San Lorenzo)

Please click here to visit www.youmapit.com. This mapping tools was created to allow the public to create and submit maps. No prior experience is required. The mapping tools are designed to be user-friendly, and step-by-step tutorials will be provided to support participants throughout the process. Please check this page for updates. 

The District has retained a demographer to prepare proposed district maps. In addition, members of the public are encouraged to submit proposed district maps or identify "communities of interest" for consideration. The demographer is responsible for reviewing and ensuring the maps comply with California Voting Rights Act (CVRA) requirements and for considering public input received throughout the process.

The deadline for first public map submissions is April 1, 2026.

The deadling for final public map submissions is May 1, 2026.

The deadline to adopt a final district map is June 2026.

When creating district maps, the District follows legal guidelines to ensure fair and effective representation:

Contiguity
A district must be one connected piece. A person should be able to go from one part of the
district to any other part without leaving the district to get there. Places that touch only at
corners do not count as connected. Places split by freeways, railways, or waterways, do not
count as connected unless a bridge, tunnel or other pathway links them.

Equal Population
Districts should try to have an equal number of people, using total population. The difference
in population between the largest and smallest district is generally presumed constitutional
if it stays at or below 10%. Oro Loma has about 139,000 people according to the 2020 census.
So, each district should be about 27,800 and is easy to track with YouMapIt.com mapping tools.

Compactness
People in a district should live relatively near one another. In California, compactness means
a district should include nearest neighbors rather than a distant population. A district should
not stretch in a long, snaking way past closer neighborhoods just to reach a faraway area. The
law does not require a perfect circle, but it does expect lines that make geographic sense.

Preserve Communities of Interest
District lines should keep together places and people who share common interests or
connections. That can include cities, census designated places, school districts,
neighborhoods, cultural or ethnic concentrations, or communities that share schools, housing,
transit, health concerns, environmental conditions, parks, shopping areas, or other civic
spaces. These communities are often best defined through public testimony from the people
who live there.