Census error inflates count of Norfolk neighborhood

NORFOLK

More than 200 people - nearly all of them adults - live in each house and apartment in the southernmost corner of the city's West Ghent neighborhood.

At least that's according to the latest census figures, which show an astonishing population growth rate of 8,300 percent within the handful of blocks south of Redgate Avenue.

If you find that surprising, well, so did the state and city governments officials who have been crunching the latest round of demographic data.

On Monday, the U.S. Census Bureau began receiving calls from The Pilot and government agencies questioning how a quiet couple of blocks in southern West Ghent - an area better known for its private shipyard and small collection of hipster bars - suddenly had become home to 8 percent of the city's population.

"It sounds like there was a pretty big typo somewhere," said Tom Epley, CEO and president of MHI Ship Repair & Services. On April 10, 2010 - census day last year - his shipyard had one Navy destroyer at its docks, with fewer than 1,000 sailors and workers attached, he said.

"Rest assured to the West Ghentians, I have no intentions of hitting 19,000 people over there," he said, laughing. "Although it could be a new kind of political base."

Census officials say nearly all people reported in the blocks around Epley's shipyard should have been assigned to the Norfolk Naval Station several miles north. The two census tracts within the Naval Station's boundaries lost roughly 11,800 people in the 2010 count.

The unusually large population reported in West Ghent has demographics that could indicate Navy personnel. Out of 19,506 people, only 20 are younger than 18. And they are quite diverse, with blacks making up nearly 25 percent and Hispanics and Asians comprising almost 17 percent. The racial makeup of the rest of West Ghent, meanwhile, is 88 percent white.

Census Bureau officials on Tuesday said the mix-up occurred because of a "geocoding discrepancy" - essentially an incorrect block number assigned to the count. The total population of Norfolk, which is 242,803, will remain unchanged, spokesman Michael Cook said.

The Census Bureau is researching the problem, Cook said, to figure out where all those people should be placed. "We expect that most of that 19,000 is going to end up back up there" on the naval station, said Kent Stigall, of the state's Division of Legislative Services, who is working on Virginia's redistricting maps.

The political power of 20,000 isn't small, Stigall said. The population in question represents more than 20 percent of a state House district. Where it ends up will make a big difference in how the state redraws legislative lines.

To complicate matters, West Ghent is in different state Senate and House districts than the naval station.

City and state officials said they hoped to have an answer from the Census Bureau later this week.

The city uses census numbers to track growth, redraw its own ward boundaries and make plans for development.

But until the problem is fixed, there's little in Norfolk's data that can be analyzed because the misplaced block represents such a large segment of the city's population.

"I'm hoping to get it resolved quickly, so we can move forward," said Janice Hurley, an analyst in Norfolk's development department.

"We're all waiting."

Meghan Hoyer, (757) 446-2293, meghan.hoyer@pilotonline.com