Redistricting: Six Changes For Rockland County

The census is out and that means it’s redistricting season. There have been several meetings of the Special Committee on Redistricting.

At the April 11 meeting, a resolution was passed to adopt Map “A” with the possibility of additional changes. The committee met Monday morning to discuss and reveal to the public the six changes that had been made since the April 11 meeting.

District 14 Legislator Bob Jackson also proposed a seventh change that was looked into immediately following the meeting. All six changes were approved at this morning's meeting and the committee also approved Jackson's proposal if the map consultant deemed it a feasible change within the state and local laws. These laws dictate that an approximate 3 percent deviation rate be applied to the population of each district when redrawing the district lines after each census.

“The census numbers came at the end of March when we had hoped to get them by March 15. It turns out that the 2-week differential time has caused us to be in a very tight time squeeze,” said Ilan Schoenberger, District 4 legislator and co-chair of the redistricting committee. T

he public hearing is April 27. According to New York State and local laws, the redistricting plan has to be submitted in its final form seven days prior, excluding Sundays, which means the deadline for the final plan is 5 p.m. Tuesday, April 19.

While the changes to Nanuet have drawn the most controversy, adjustments to Pearl River are relatively minor, with the shift of between District 15 and 16.

"This is our twelfth meeting. There are changes that have been contemplated since Monday, April 11,” said Michael Grant, District 2 legislator and co-chair of the Special Committee on Redistricting. Here are the changes that have been made and can be seen on the map submitted on April 15 in comparison to the map that was presented at the April 11 meeting:

1. 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
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. 

At the April 11 meeting, Election District 32 was part of District 9. The Palisades Interstate Parkway divides that election district in half. The change made after the April 11 meeting was to make the half on the left side of the PiP to go to District 14 (blue) and keep the right side as part of District 9 (yellow). Refer to the maps attached to the article. To keep the population deviation rate reasonable and to make up for the population loss District 9 suffered, Election District 18 left District 14 and joined District 9.

“As a result of that…about 800 people were moved from Legislative District 14, which includes part of Ramapo, to Legislative District 9, which is mostly Clarkstown. But because we swapped some from the top and some from the bottom, the actual net change of people from one district to another came out to 27 people," said Schoenberger.

“There were two other changes that were not on the map that were proposed,” said Schoenberger.

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”

All these changes were approved at Monday morning’s meeting with a seventh one in the works that was proposed by Jackson at the meeting.

“The two others (changes) were indicated, but are not on the map on the website at this time,” said Grant. “The seventh element is the consideration for…a way to increase Nanuet’s boundaries between Legislative Districts 9 and 14.”

Schoenberger told Jackson that he was behind this change if it stuck to the local laws on keeping, roughly, a 3 percent deviation rate on the district’s population.

“First Bob, all of us respect you for the work you’ve done here…we also respect and admire your passion. As we sit here today, none of us know what such a change would have in terms of effect on deviation or if the area you proposed compensates for another area somewhere else… That’s really something we rely on our outside consultant.

Because our redistricting by law has to follow census block and census tracks and then those have to be converted into GIS by our planning department, it’s not an easy process.

Our consultant…We have to run these (changes) past him and…(whether or not) the changes won’t result in any deviation or any other action that violates the doctrines on which we have to operate on.

I can assure you that if it’s possible to do what you’re asking to be done within reason, we will ask the consultant and see what can be done. Beyond that, there isn’t any assurance we can give you.

We’re under a very tight time frame to get this finished and on everybody’s desk by 5 p.m. tomorrow (Tuesday). No one can give you a promise that it can be done in this point and time.

It’s not just adopting a map, it’s adopting the local law with the maps passed.”

District 11 Legislator Frank Sparaco pointed out the advantages of Jackson’s proposals.

“I would also like to point out that the amount of work and effort he (Jackson) put into addressing the concerns of the people of Nanuet…the victory of getting district 18 into district 9…he moved 1000 people and it was a huge victory on his part and he deserves the credit.

Ramapo (Election) District 32 has approximately 800 people in it. If that was swapped with Nanuet, a simple swap of 800 people and it keeps District 9 fully contained within Clarkstown…I believe it’s a win-win all around.”

District 9 Legislator Gerold Bierker agreed with Jackson’s plan in keeping communities with like interests together.

“Just to echo Legislator Jackson, the part of downtown Bardonia that shares with Nanuet a zip code and fire services, I believe (that part of Bardonia) has more in common with Nanuet than the further north you go in District 9. I thank you Bob Jackson for what you’ve done. I think it serves the people in that lower part of Clarkstown well.”

District 12 Legislator Joseph Meyers assured those in Nanuet that will remain in District 14 of the similarities between them and the rest of that district.

“I think that the part that has moved over to District 9 [referring to Election District 44] does help keep communities of interest together. As for the part (of Nanuet) that remains in District 14, I know that some people have concerns about it combining with Chestnut Ridge and Ramapo.

As somebody that is from Ramapo … I want the people in the audience to know that Chestnut Ridge is a stable community that shares a lot of the hopes and aspirations that Legislative Jackson mentioned about Nanuet…There’re quite a few things in common with your two communities, more than you may realize now.

District 10 Legislator and Chairwoman of the Rockland County Legislature Harriet Cornell also gave her thoughts on the issue.

“Years ago when legislators ran town-wide, we ran at large in the entire town of Clarkstown. So one of the sad things for me when we went on to single-member districts was no longer representing Nanuet, which was a truly wonderful place.

I have had over the years had much to do with the Family Resource Center in the school district…this shouldn’t be setting us apart, it should be bringing us together. We all have common interests and common concerns.

There's an public hearing also scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 27 for legislators to listen and comment on the public's opinion of the maps.

For legislative redistricting working maps, updated as of April 15, visit the GIS Portal Website

To read more about who to contact, how redistricting works, other map options, the deviation rate and/or the community reaction, check out this previous Patch article.

The following is a breakdown of the two proposed districts that Pearl River will fall into and how many Pearl River Residents will be in each one based on the 2010 census:

District

Population

15

8,462

16

7,414

Total Pearl River Population

15,876

Here is how much voting power Pearl River has in each of these districts:

District

Percentage of voting power

15

45.6%

16

40.1

Here are the towns and villages making up these districts.

District

Made up of

15

Town of Clarkstown, Nanuet, Town of Ramapo, Village of Chestnut Ridge, Pearl River

16

Blauvelt, Orangeburg, Pearl River, Tappan, Remainder of Unincorporated Orangetown