The city of Martinez doesn't have to redraw its City Council district boundary lines, a Superior Court judge ruled Friday, but warned city lawyers they should be ready to do so quickly -- before the November general election -- should a Malibu attorney and his Martinez clients appeal Friday's ruling and win.

Contra Costa Superior Court Judge Charles Treat on Friday told attorneys for the City of Martinez and for residents Felix Sanchez and Nancy Noonan that while the election district map the City Council approved in February 2018 is "absurd" in its design to intentionally give each of the four districts a slice of the downtown area, he also said that doing so was legal at that point, according to state Election Code statute.

That specific statute, 21601, was amended in September 2019 by

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