Florissant Council Presented Boundary Line Recommendations for City

One month shy of the , the city has new boundary lines on the table for residents and councilors to consider.

On Monday night, Commission Chair Susan Geerling presented the recommendations for how to redraw the boundary lines to accommodate the release of the 2010 Census data.

The commission left no ward untouched, but a few had more changes than others, according to the map presentation.

The commission strived to balance each ward to the magic number of 5,795, Geerling said.

The recommended changes include:

• Moving Precinct LC035—which encompasses those streets within North Park Drive, Grants Parkway, North Pointe Lane and wraps around Collier Drive and North Pointe Lane—from Ward 4 to Ward 1, which would shift 515 residents to Ward 1.
• Shifting Blk2005—encompassing part of Charbonier and Howdershell roads and Montezuma Drive—from Ward 3 and LC023—Mullanphy Road, part of Patterson Road and Daniel Boone Drive—from Ward 4 to Ward 2. More than 1,180 residents would be affected by these changes.
• Ward 7 would lose Precinct FLO039—part of S. New Florissant Road, Dunn Road and Locust Drive—to Ward 5, which would result in a shift of 212 residents.
• Ward 6 would gain a partial precinct from Ward 8 with FLO015—encompassing Parker Road, Ridge Drive and Johnstown Drive and Jamaica Place—two split blocks as well as blocks 3000, 3001, 3002, 3015, 3016, 3017. This results in a move of 486 residents.
• Ward 7 would gain Precinct FLO013—encompassing streets near St. Anthony Lane and Waterford Drive—from Ward 8, which results in a pickup of 647 residents.
• Along with precincts going to Wards 6 and 7, Ward 8 also would lose a part of Precinct FLO015—streets north of Parker Road—to Ward 9, resulting in a move of 516 residents to Ward 9.

Throughout the process, the commission kept in mind to keep each ward within a 10-percent deviation, keep the boundaries compact and contiguous, and to make sure each current councilor remained in the ward they served.

Geerling pointed out that Wards 4 and 8 were the most impacted by the commission’s recommendations, as the past annexations added more population to those two wards than any other part of the city.

She also shared that the recommendations would allow for no more split blocks in the City of Florissant. A split block, according to City Clerk Karen Goodwin, is “a census block where the population in that block is split between two wards.”

Ward 1 Councilman Tim Lee did notice an interesting point on the map for a recommendation to his ward. The previous boundary commission following the 2000 Census altered the piece that would go from Ward 4 to Ward 1.

The biggest concern amongst councilors seemed to be rightfully on the residents.

Ward 4 Councilman Keith English as well as Lee pointed out that several residents who currently serve on the city’s commissions live in areas affected by the recommendations.

English said he asked to review what would happen with the commissions and those respective residents if the council approved the recommendations provided by the redistricting commission.

The council will have its second reading of the commission’s recommendations at its Oct. 10 meeting.