UPDATE 3:15pm | Mayor Foster via Twitter: Tonight’s redistricting agenda item will be heard around 5:30p — at the start of the meeting right after the consent calendar.

1:01pm | The Long Beach City Council will vote tonight on whether the city should move forward on distributing for public review a contentious redistricting plan created by Seventh District Councilman James Johnson that would split up the prosperous Atlantic Avenue business corridor in Bixby Knolls, with half to remain in the Eighth District and the other half being acquired by Johnson’s Seventh District.

The Council voted 5-4 on June 7 to accept as the only redistricting option to be released for public review the plan masterminded by Johnson, which would move much of the Bixby Knolls neighborhood — about 3,000 residents — from the Eighth District into his Seventh District — about 2,000 more people than is needed to even out the populations in those districts which have populations more than five percent above or below the average district population as per the 2010 Census.

The council meeting is set to begin at 5 p.m. in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 333 W. Ocean Blvd.

Agenda item No. 15 is a request from city staff asking for direction from the City Council regarding the next steps to be taken in the city;s redistricting process. Specifically, the Council will vote to approve the map as the final map and direct the creation of the official ordinance describing the new boundaries; provide direction through a motion to change or modify the map; or provide other direction as appropriate.

While the plan does have its supporters, many Bixby Knolls residents are unhappy with the proposed boundary line changes, and a large crowd of residents, some of whom have launched a “Recall James Johnson” website, is expected to attend the meeting to speak out against what they have labeled as Johnson’s “gerrymandering scheme.”