Chico to continue map process

With the April 17 final deadline in sight, the city of Chico is holding its fifth and possibly final public hearing for selecting a new district map for the next decade.

The Chico City Council is set to discuss its final three maps, which were narrowed down from five at a previous special meeting last week, and receive additional input from residents on how to move forward.

Choices consist of one map made by hired demographer Claudio Gallegos and two from members of the public, Bryce Goldstein and Nichole Nava.

Gallegos had encouraged the city council during the special meeting to choose one final map at its upcoming Tuesday meeting in order to more easily meet the April 15 deadline to submit the map selection to the county.

The city council will be asked by staff to select a final map and adopt a resolution surrounding said map.

If a final map is not chosen on Tuesday, another special meeting will likely need to be scheduled in order to make the final selection going forward with the process.

The council picked the three maps based on having the lowest deviations.

Other business

Three hearings are scheduled for proposed cannabis storefronts that were denied by the city to go forward in the application process.

The businesses in question are Chico’s Best, TMG Chico LLC and Chico 580.

Each appeal comes with a recommendation by City Manager Mark Orme to deny the appeals based on disqualifications.

For each appeal, the city council will have two resolution options, one going with the city manager’s recommendation and the other overturning the denial and allowing the business to go forward.

An ordinance to comply with Assembly Bill 481, allowing a military equipment use policy will be discussed and considered.

The Chico City Council mostly meets at 6 p.m. on the first and third Tuesday of the month at 421 Main St. Meetings are free and open to the public.