BOCS Approves Redistricting Criteria

The Board of County Supervisors began the process of redistricting Tuesday, voting unanimously to adopt a set of criteria and timing for the redistricting process and schedule a public hearing on April 5.

Tracy Gordon of the county Office of Executive Management presented the board with the staff recommendations for the process.

The magisterial districts are required to be equal in population, within plus or minus 5 percent of the ideal district population. With western districts seeing the most population growth in the last 10 years and eastern districts growing at a much slower rate, district lines are likely to shift significantly.

The two districts which Dale City falls into, Neabsco and Coles, experienced the second and third slowest growth among the county’s magisterial districts, meaning the boundaries of those districts are likely to expand in order to even the population numbers.

The redistricting process involved not only redrawing the lines of magisterial districts, but also voting precincts. Gordon recommended that the board avoid creating new precincts due to cost. Each new precinct added would cost the county $18,500 in startup costs plus $3,500 each year, Gordon said.

County staff is in the process of drawing initial redistricting alternatives based on numbers from the Census Bureau. The staff will present at least two options for review by the board and the public before March 21, when the county will advertise the date of the public hearing. The staff will present options based on keeping the current seven magisterial district and on adding a potential eighth magisterial district.

The board is expected to adopt a redistricting plan no later than May 17, after which the staff will submit the plan to the U.S. Department of Justice for the preclearance requirement that the county is required to meet under the Voting Rights Act. The county is seeking a bailout from the preclearance requirement, but Jeff Notz of the County Attorney’s Office said it is unlikely that the county will receive the bailout before this year’s plan must be submitted.