West Nova News

County of Loudoun issued the following announcement on Jan. 25

Members of the public are now able to view and comment on three draft local redistricting plans that have been selected by the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors for further evaluation and refinement.

On January 18, 2022, the Board voted to move these three plans to the next phase of consideration in the county’s local redistricting process:

• The Coalition of Loudoun Towns (COLT) Alternate Plan, submitted by COLT, an organization comprising the mayors of Loudoun’s seven incorporated towns (Hamilton, Hillsboro, Leesburg, Lovettsville, Middleburg, Purcellville and Round Hill). This plan focuses on preserving communities of interest, such as homeowners associations, in both western and eastern Loudoun with compact districts. It focuses on the Rural Policy Area, the county’s incorporated towns, and western Loudoun by creating two western districts. 
• The Fechter Plan, a citizen-submitted plan, is designed to include two supervisor districts for areas west of Route 15 and one supervisor district entirely west of Route 15. It is also designed to avoid split precincts, keep communities of interest together as much as possible, and ensure the Board of Supervisors reflects the county it represents.
• The Letourneau-Turner Plan, developed collaboratively by Dulles District Supervisor Matthew F. Letourneau and Ashburn District Supervisor Michael R. Turner. This plan is based on a previous plan submitted by Supervisor Turner, but also contains elements of Supervisor Letourneau's previously submitted plans. It is designed to include rural areas in two districts, while keeping many communities of interest and homeowners associations intact, including Brambleton, Cascades, Lansdowne, Leesburg, South Riding and Sterling. 

Members of the public can review these plans through an online viewer, which allows users to compare plans to one another and evaluate how each plan addresses the Board of Supervisors’ adopted 2021 redistricting guidelines, which are available at loudoun.gov/redistricting. 

Residents are encouraged to view the plans and other useful maps and data on the county’s Redistricting Hub. A comment form can be used to provide feedback on specific plans or submit general comments about the redistricting process.

The county’s Office of Mapping and Geographic Information is continuing to evaluate these plans against components of the 2021 redistricting guidelines, including each plan’s impacts on communities of interest. County staff are also analyzing how the three proposed plans would affect existing voter precincts.

Following the county staff’s analysis, the Board is scheduled to review the three plans again at its February 15 business meeting and select a single redistricting plan in March that will be forwarded to a subsequent public hearing.

The local redistricting process determines how neighborhoods and communities are grouped together into a district for purposes of electing members to the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors and School Board. By making sure districts have approximately the same number of people, redistricting can help to ensure residents have equal representation on the Board of Supervisors and School Board. It also affects for whom residents vote and where they vote, based on how the local electoral boundaries are drawn.

For more information about local redistricting in Loudoun County, visit loudoun.gov/redistricting.

Original source can be found here.