San Diego's large Latino population may be the big winner in the city's intensely political redistricting process.

The city is adding a new City Council district and it is looking like it will be a Latino-majority district with City Heights as its center. It would be the second Latino-majority district in San Diego.

Latino leaders who pushed for the creation of a Latino-majority district are not declaring a victory yet because the redistricting process, which began last fall, has not been completed yet.

"It's like a horserace coming down the stretch. You don't want to run to the teller and cash your ticket," said Mateo Camarillo, chairman of the Latino Redistricting Committee, a volunteer group that proposed a Latino-majority district map. "They are still wrapping up their work," he said about the city's redistricting officials.

A betting person might say that Latinos will get a stronger voice in City Hall if the city's official preliminary redistricting plan holds up.

The city's Redistricting Commission last month voted 5-2 to approve a preliminary plan that sets new boundaries for the eight existing City Council districts and for the new one that city voters agreed to create last year.

Latinos will fare well under this plan because it calls for predominantly Latino District 8, which includes Barrio Logan and San Ysidro, to remain largely the same, although it would lose Golden Hill and Southcrest.

More important, the new ninth district will be south of Interstate 8 with heavily Latino City Heights as its center. The district would be 50.3 percent Latino.

The Latino Redistricting Committee, a volunteer group, had proposed a similar district but it was about 57 percent Latino.

Latino representation is lower in the commission's plan for District 9 because of the inclusion of Kensington, Talmadge and College, which are largely white neighborhoods north of City Heights.

Kensington and Talmadge are currently in District 3. The College Area is in District 7.

Latino community leaders would like to see greater Latino representation in the new district but aren't fighting to make that happen. They're letting residents from Kensington, Talmadge and College Area do that indirectly.

Residents from those neighborhoods are urging the city's Redistricting Commission to keep their communities in their current districts and not be moved to District 9.

"Kensington is not properly placed in District 9 and should actually be moved back and kept in District 3 where it has been for decades," Richard Siegel told the commission Wednesday at a public hearing at the Joan B. Kroc Center on University Avenue. Kensington residents made up about one-quarter of the more than 200 city residents who packed the auditorium.

Tom Hebrank, another speaker, proposed keeping Kensington in District 3 and moving Shelltown, a heavily Latino neighborhood in District 8, to District 9. He said this would increase Latino representation in District 9 from 50 to 53 percent.

Camarillo, who also spoke at the hearing, said he agreed that Kensington, Talmadge and College Area had "very little in common" with the immigrant communities in the proposed District 9 and their wishes to be removed from the district should be respected.

"They don't want to be part of District 9. I say to you, 'Liberate them,'" Camarillo said.

The redistricting process, which happens every decade, has been intensely political, as expected.

The commission, which has been meeting since October, received 23 proposed maps from individuals and organizations, including a proposal to create an Asian-majority district north of Interstate 8. It has also received 950 letters or e-mails, 195 telephone comments and 2,000 signatures on petitions.

Estela De Los Rios, who spoke at the public hearing Tuesday, said the proposed "ninth district was a reflection of the census."

Latinos fueled much of the growth in the general population across the country in the 2000s, including in San Diego County and San Diego.

Latinos make up about 30 percent of the city's 1.3 million residents, according to the 2010 Census.

Camarillo said there is a possibility that San Diego will have three Latino-majority districts in the near future. In addition to Districts 8 and 9, District 4 in southeastern San Diego also has a large Latino population, more than 40 percent.

The county Board of Supervisors is also drawing new boundaries for the region's five districts. The all-white board, under pressure from the American Civil Liberties Union, announced this week that it would draw a map that would give minority voters a stronger voice in upcoming elections.

Meanwhile, the city's redistricting efforts are also to be completed in time for elections next year.

The Redistricting Commission is holding public hearings to get feedback on its preliminary plan and is scheduled to adopt a final plan by the end of this month.

"The Redistricting Commission may make changes to this Preliminary Plan and filing statement or may adopt it as it is," the commission said in a report made available to the public at Wednesday's hearing.

The final plan will be effective 30 days after adoption but will be subject to a referendum. If rejected by referendum, the commission will be charged with creating a new plan.