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‘It’s political.’ Despite pushback, new Lexington council district maps move forward

A committee appointed to redraw Lexington council district boundaries moved forward with a proposed redistricting map that will result in 46 precincts being moved to new council districts, affecting nearly 50,000 voters.

The proposed new council district map will now go to the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council, which has the final say on council district boundaries. A date for the council to review the proposed redistricting map has not been set.

The committee, which consists of appointees of 15 council members, has been meeting for months. The district boundaries must be redrawn after the release of U.S. Census figures every ten years if there are substantial changes in population. Fayette County’s population grew by 26,767 people from the 2010 to 2020 census. Fayette County’s population is now 322,570.

The changes under the proposed map affect 48,803 voters.

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Council districts with the most changes include District 3, which previously included much of the downtown area and neighborhoods around the University of Kentucky. District 3 will now include eight precincts south of the UK Arboretum — between Tates Creek, Nicholasville and New Circle roads — that were once part of District 4. That means District 4 will now largely consist of neighborhoods south of New Circle Road to the county line, making it a suburban district.

District 10 and District 11 also saw substantial changes.

Members of the Pensacola Park neighborhood had strongly objected to being moved from District 3 to District 10 in prior meetings about the redrawing of the maps. People from Pensacola Park, located north of Southland Drive off of Nicholasville Road, is a historic district that has more in common with neighborhoods around UK than the largely suburban neighborhoods located in District 10, which includes such neighborhoods as Beaumont.

To address those concerns, the committee proposed alternative maps that would have kept the Pensacola Park neighborhood in District 3. But to account for population shifts, that meant other changes were needed. The committee proposed two alternatives: Moving the Malabu precinct from District 4 to District 5 and moving the Leawood precinct from District 4 to District 10.

During a Wednesday meeting, some committee members said moving the Goodrich precinct, which includes Pensacola Park, into the 10th District made more sense than moving Malabu and Leawood.

A committee redrawing Lexington’s 12 council district boundaries final recommendation includes 46 precinct changes that will affect nearly 50,000 voters. This list includes all the precinct changes.
A committee redrawing Lexington’s 12 council district boundaries final recommendation includes 46 precinct changes that will affect nearly 50,000 voters. This list includes all the precinct changes.

“Malabu is largely connected to the greater Lansdowne area,” argued Brenda Monarrez, who was appointed by Councilwoman Susan Lamb, who represents District 4. Moreover, many of the emails from the Pensacola Park neighborhood said they wanted to keep their current council person, Hannah LeGris. That’s a political consideration that is not the purview of the redistricting committee, Monarrez said.

Matt Wilson, who represents District 3, said feedback from the community showed they did not favor the original plan to keep Goodrich in the 10th District. Moreover, the most vocal criticism and the most feedback about the potential changes came from Pensacola Park about the Goodrich precinct change.

Jesse Voigt, president of the Pensacola Park neighborhood, told the committee Wednesday one of the guidelines for the redistricting committee was to follow major roads as boundaries. Nicholasville Road is a natural boundary of the Pensacola Park neighborhood. Nicholasville Road is largely in District 3. Voigt said District 3 includes a lot of historic neighborhoods while District 10 has few.

Voigt said the committee made changes to other precincts after hearing from just a few members of a neighborhood, yet when it heard from nearly 10 percent of the Goodrich precinct, it still wanted to move the neighborhood out of District 3.

“It’s political,” Voigt said of the reasons why some people were heard and others were not.

Ultimately, the committee voted to move Goodrich to the 10th District and not to move Malabu or Leawood precincts.

Don Todd, a member of the committee and a former councilman, said the council would have an opportunity to make other changes to the proposed redistricting map. Residents will have an opportunity to weigh in when the council considers the proposed redistricting map.

The goal was to have the redrawn maps approved by Nov. 3, when candidates can file to run for council district races. That likely won’t happen. The city charter says the city does not have to have final maps until April 2022.

Residents can plug in their address in a map at www.lexingtonky.gov/redistricting-lexington to see if they would be moved to a different council district. To find out more about the redistricting process, go to www.lexingtonky.gov/redistricting-lexington. Residents can verify the name of their current voting precinct at https://fayettecountyclerk.com/web/elections/votingLocations.htm.