A reapportionment plan that will set new boundaries for City Council and Duval County School Board districts is a step closer to completion following the actions Thursday at a special Rules Committee meeting.
Committee members, who were joined by several other Council members, hosted a workshop solely to present more ideas about changes to a map previously approved by a Council reapportionment committee.
Council members also were able to offer new maps.
Similar to the state level, reapportionment is required every 10 years.
Several Council members offered different maps, but committee members decided on an amended one presented by Rules Chairman Bill Bishop that served as a hybrid.
The most notable change in the approved map is the removal of “the J” from District 13, which in the original reapportionment map spanned the Beaches and wrapped around south of Butler Boulevard.
The proposed redrawn lines now encompass just the Beaches.
In addition, each school board district represents two Council districts. Under the amended map, the pairings include: Council Districts 1 and 2; Districts 3 and 13, Districts 4 and 5; Districts 6 and 11; Districts 7 and 8; Districts 9 and 10; and Districts 12 and 14.
The meeting, much like others involved with redrawing district lines, became emotional at times.
One point was the alteration of District 8, represented by Denise Lee, and District 12, represented by Doyle Carter, which moved the Whitehouse area on the Westside into Carter’s district.
Lee was opposed to the move and the two will meet Wednesday to discuss alternatives.
Another was the redrawing of at-large groups. Council member Kim Daniels, who represents At-Large District 1, sought to have portions on the Northside currently in her district re-incorporated. An amendment on the floor restored much of the at-large districts to their current form.
An alternate map presented by Council member Matt Schellenberg sought to make districts more compact while keeping communities of interest and neighborhoods aligned.
However, it also effectively eliminated one of the four minority-access districts. Schellenberg defended the map by stating the community as a whole has moved beyond race and instead looks for good people to serve.
The Office of General Counsel indicated the map was legally defensible, but several Council members said they could not support it because it deters from sought-after diversity.
The amended ordinance, which includes the map, will be presented Tuesday to the full Council and then be re-referred. A public hearing is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday at Council Chambers.
The amended map will be available on the City’s website, www.coj.net, within the next few days, said Bill Killingsworth, City planning and development director.
Bishop said his goal was to send a map to Council for re-referral and keep the process as smooth as possible and on track for the Nov. 18 deadline to finalize the redrawn districts.
“I think it went as well as could be expected,” Bishop said after the meeting.
“In a process like this, not everyone is going to be happy but, by and large, I think we did a pretty good job today,” he said.
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