Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 8, 1991 TAG: 9103080382
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV5 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: M.J. DOUGHERTY CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: FLOYD LENGTH: Medium
"We've got the lines fairly well agreed upon," County Administrator Randy Arno said Wednesday.
"They are subject to refinement, mainly due to technical and legal issues."
A public hearing must be held before the supervisors can vote on the redistricting plan.
The date for that hearing will probably be set at the board's March 18 meeting.
Also, once the board approves redistricting, the United States Justice Department must review and accept the plan.
The new electoral districts are necessary because of population shifts reflected by the 1990 census.
"We sort of anticipated it from the school enrollment," said Board of Supervisors Chairman William Whitlock.
"Check School [in the eastern part of the county] has grown more than the other schools. And once we got started, everything sort of fell into place like dominoes."
Under the proposal, centrally located District C, the Courthouse District, would change the most. Its eastern boundary, north of the town of Floyd, would be defined by Virginia 615 and the Little River.
Currently, the district ends at Virginia 724. Near the Patrick County line, Virginia 615 would be the new eastern boundary. And the district's western border would change in four places.
"The two eastern districts grew the fastest," said Lowell Boothe, the District C supervisor.
"Together, they had to get rid of the most population. And here in the Courthouse [District], we grew some also. So I knew Indian Valley and Burks Fork [the western districts] were definitely going to get larger."
District A, Locust Grove, would have its boundary with District B, Little River, shifted eastward in two places - just north of U.S. 221 and between the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Franklin County line.
Also, the border between District D, Burks Fork, and District E, Indian Valley, would shift slightly southward near Carroll County.
The five proposed electoral districts range from 2,365 and 2,420 people.
The optimum size for a district is 2,401 - one-fifth of the county's 1990 population of 12,005.
by CNB