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Volusia
County Redistricting Committee
Meeting Minutes
June 4, 2001
The Volusia County Redistricting Committee met at 5:30 p.m. on June 4, 2001, in the south auditorium of City Island Library, 105 East Magnolia Avenue, Daytona Beach, Volusia County, Florida. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss redistricting in accordance with Volusia County’s Home Rule Charter and the 2000 Census.Public Notice of this workshop was given in The News-Journal.
The following Committee Members were present: Committee Chair Patricia Northey, County Council Member; Committee Vice Chair John, County Council Member; Judith Conte, School Board Member; Earl McCrary, Volusia County School Board; Cynthia Slater, NAACP; Ann H. Smith, League of Woman’s Voters
The following Volusia County staff members were present: Mark Conway, GIS; Dan Eckert, County Attorney; Barbara Griffiths, GIS Project Leader; Matt Greeson, Assistant to the County Manager; Diane Marinaro Tyler, Administrative Aide for the County Manager’s Office
Also present were: County Council Member Frank Bruno; Fred Miller, Volusia County School Board
Many members of the public were in attendance.
Ms. Griffiths reviewed the booklet provided. She explained that Sample 1 represents a target population at 0% deviation. She said that it keeps the Cities of DeBary and Deltona together while the other districts move west and south. She said that Port Orange and Daytona Beach are split between several districts and the Samsula-Spruce Creek CDP is split between two districts.
Ms. Griffiths said that Sample 1 meets the following goals:
New district boundaries do not place residences of the existing School Board or County Council members outside their district.
No two district members are within the same district
Concentrated minority populations are left intact.
Ms. Griffiths said that Sample 2 represents a target population deviation under 1%. It also keeps DeBary and Deltona together with other districts moving west and south. She said that Port Orange and Daytona Beach are split between several districts and the Samsula-Spruce Creek CDP is split between two districts.
Ms. Griffiths said that Sample 2 meets the following goals:
New district boundaries do not place residences of the existing School Board or County Council members outside their district.
No two district members are within the same district
Concentrated minority populations are left intact.
Ms. Griffiths explained that Sample 3 meets the target population deviation with no districts deviating more than 5%. She said that in this sample no cities are split by District boundaries. Several cities are moved into new districts. Samsula-Spruce Creek CDP is split between two districts.
Ms. Griffiths said that this sample meets the following goals:
New district boundaries do not place residences of the existing School Board or County Council members outside their district.
No two district members are within the same district
Integrity of municipal boundaries are preserved
Concentrated minority populations are left intact
Ms. Griffiths said that Sample 4 deviates from the target population by less than 3%. She said that this sample creates a northern district that spans the county form east to west. DeBary moves to District 1 and I-95 becomes the western boundary of Districts 2 and 3. Daytona Beach, Port Orange, New Smyrna Beach and Edgewater are split into two or more districts.
Ms. Griffith said that this sample meets the following goals:
New district boundaries do not place residences of the existing School Board or County Council members outside their district.
No two district members are within the same district.
Boundaries of unincorporated communities are preserved.
Concentrated minority populations would be left in tact
Chair Northey recessed the meeting for ten minutes to allow members of the public to view the sample maps.
Mr. Gordon Williamson, Sierra Club, complimented staff on the maps.
Mr. Angelo Flores said that South Daytona should be in the same district as Port Orange.
Chair Northey said that staff tried to keep areas of common interest together and tried to keep as the district lines as consistent as possible with the current lines. She said that in all of the proposed samples there is commonality of interest. She said that Sample 3 keeps the cities intact.
Mr. Eckert explained the redistricting requirements under the Volusia County Charter. He further explained that the purpose of this meeting is to allow the public to comment on the proposed districts.
Volusia County Council Member Frank Bruno said that Sample 1 separates southeast (Edgewater, Port Orange and New Smyrna Beach) from rest of the Halifax area. He said that the entire Halifax area should be in the same district. He said that he would be more comfortable with Port Orange and South Daytona in the same district.
City of Port Orange Council Member Clifford "Buzzy" Windle, said that South Daytona and Ponce Inlet should be in the same district as Port Orange.
Ms. Edith Stonitsen said that Port Orange should not be divided into different districts.
Committee Member John said that staff should create a sample map with Port Orange, South Daytona, Daytona Beach Shores and Ponce Inlet in the same district.
Pursuant to further discussion, Ms. Griffiths specified that staff split the population first then checked to be sure no two council members or school board members fell in the same district.
Mr. John Nicholson said that he was offended that Caucasians were not listed on the key. He said that the proposed districts were not delineated with future growth in mind. He further stated that Deltona’s growth would be determined by Orlando’s growth and that within the next ten years Deltona would increase greatly again. Mr. Nicholson said that staff should prepare a map including future growth.
Mr. Eckert explained that according to the Volusia County Home Rule Charter and Florida Statues, the districts must be divided as equally as possible with regard to current population. He said that future population projections could not be considered when creating districts.
Chair Northey said that the population of districts must be within 5% of each other and that Sample 3 accomplishes this goal and also includes a growth factor. She said that District 5 would grow from the east as well as the west.
Pursuant to discussion, Mr. Eckert said that students must register to vote at their place residence, which could be their dorm address but the main school address.
Mr. Gordon Williamson, Sierra Club, said that Sample 1 best serves the public.
Staff and Committee Members remained available until 6:30 p.m.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 6:15 p.m.
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