Tonight: Rockland Public Redistricting Hearing

At the April 18 meeting of the Special Committee on Redistricting, the six approved changes were discussed and District 14 Legislator Bob Jackson proposed a seventh. However, after the meeting and a conference call with the redistricting map consultant, the seventh change was not feasible.

In this previous Patch , the six changes are explained and Bob Jackson explains why the seventh change did not work. His proposal was to move a portion of Election District 44 from Legislative District 14 and into Legislative District 9. The population of that move was too great to make the move and not make a large impact on the population deviation rate, which needed to stay within 3 percent.

At tonight's meeting, a public forum will be held to discuss the final drafts of the proposed district lines and to field questions and concerns from the public. The meeting is at 7 p.m. at the County Legislature—11 New Hempstead Road in New City.

Out of the six changes, four of them can be seen when comparing the April 11 and 15 maps:

1. Legislative District 10: “The Census Track didn’t match with the GIS Track so a change was made, which affects a net population of seven people,” said Ilan Schoenberger, District 4 legislator and co-chair of the redistricting committee. The most visible part of this change can be seen in Election District 77 on the west side of Lake De Forest. The residents that are affected in this area are those that live on Village Way, Waters View and Reservoir Drive.
2. "The boundary between Districts 11 and 5 was changed. That was a New City change that had a net change of 80 residents,” said Schoenberger. “It took a piece of Legislative District 11 and put it back into Legislative District 5.”
3. "Next one was (Districts) 15 and 16 and that was in the boundary between Pearl River and Orangetown,” said Schoenberger, pointing to the curved area where Sickletown Road dips down to meet with Blauvelt Road. “That was a net change of 75 people.”
4. “The fourth change is between Legislative Districts 14 and 9. The area with the two triangles is Election District 32, Town of Ramapo,” said Schoenberger, pointing to the blue and yellow triangles, that represent Districts 14 and 9 respectively, nestled between Districts 4 and 5.

Two of the six changes can be seen when comparing the April 15 and 18 maps

1. “That piece, which is in the area of Holt drive (Pearl River), was moved from 16 to 15. The net change there is about 35 people.”
2. “A piece (of Election District 37) has been moved from Legislative District 4 to 5,” said Schoenberger, referring to the Pomona Heights area shown in the map by dotted lines that run along Hidden Valley Drive, Bobcott, Route 306 and 202. “It’s 105 people (of net change) and has no affect of the deviation, because Legislative District 4 was slightly under the deviation and…Legislative District 5 was a little high.”

Editor's Note: The only map the website provided with the Election Districts labeled is the April 11 map.