Virginia Beach shows plans for city-government redistricting

VIRGINIA BEACH

The city could have a majority-minority residential district for the first time. Two School Board members could be bumped out of theirs. And the Beach district would extend from the Oceanfront to the Chesapeake Bay.

Those are among the potential changes to Virginia Beach's district boundaries as the City Council looks at different ways to stretch and shrink the electoral lines and reflect the most recent census figures.

Beach officials and consultant Kimball Brace, an election expert who helped the city develop three of the maps, tried to create equally sized districts in terms of population and minority voters, Councilman Glenn Davis said.

The three maps, along with a proposal from the city's NAACP branch, will be presented to the public for comment today. The City Council is scheduled to select a scenario at its Aug. 23 meeting, before the plan is submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice for approval.

The City Council agreed to spend $200,000 for the redistricting process, including paying Brace.

All the options create one slim minority district, which has been difficult to achieve in Virginia Beach in the past. While a third of the city's residents are minorities, most of them are spread throughout Virginia Beach.

Carl Wright, the local NAACP vice president, said creating a majority-minority district is a step in the right direction of getting more diverse voices in city politics.

But it's unlikely to make a huge difference in minority representation on the City Council, both Wright and Davis said. Virginia Beach is divided into districts, but all council members must run citywide.

The NAACP redistricting option does keep communities with similar economic demographics together, so they may have more leverage with their district council member, said civic activist and former councilman John Moss.

But Councilwoman Barbara Henley, who represents Princess Anne, said she would have preferred to see some of the rural neighborhoods that are facing similar issues of open ditches and narrow roads stay together.

School Board Chairman Dan Edwards wonders whether politics played into the decisions of where the new lines were drawn.

Edwards is moving to new home about a mile away in his Centerville district. Two of the district maps under consideration would move his new residence into the Kempsville district.

Two of the plans would also move School Board member Brent Mckenzie from Rose Hall to Centerville.

If Edwards and Mckenzie wanted to run for re-election, they would have to do so in the new districts, because elected officials have to live in the district the represent.

"I'm flabbergasted," Edwards said. "I thought I was safe in the middle of the district and was simply sliding over a mile. Evidently, I was wrong."

Edwards said he didn't know whether public disagreements over school funding in recent months factored in how the maps were drawn.

"Of course it's political," Edwards said. "Redistricting is a political process. Exactly what type of political game they're playing, I don't know about that."

Councilman Jim Wood said some of the proposed shifts of School Board members should be reconsidered.

"I didn't think that would be very helpful," Wood said. "The perception certainly would be a political move, and I don't think that's what it was."

The public can comment on the maps at today at 6 p.m. in the City Council chambers or go to www.vbredistricting.com.

Pilot writer Mike Hixenbaugh contributed to this report.

Deirdre Fernandes, (757) 222-5121, deirdre.fernandes@pilotonline.com