The nine-member commission deliberated between two options heading into its meeting and ended up selecting Option A in a 7-1 vote. Commission member Gary Beach was the lone dissenting vote, with member Ken Southard not in attendance. Both options were made available online prior to the meeting.
Serving as an advisory body to the City Council, the commission is tasked with recommending boundaries for the city's four council districts in order to balance population totals. The difference in population among the four districts must not exceed 10%. The recommended map has a 6% deviation.
The major difference between options is a property adjustment for District 2 in order to reduce the deviation.
In Option A, the Eastside and GreenVue developments, which are located in the northern section of the Richardson IQ, would move from District 4 to District 2. The second option, which was not selected, has these developments remaining in District 4 while the area of the CityLine development east of the DART Rail Line would move to District 2 instead.
One reason cited in support of Option A was to not divide up neighborhoods, one of the commission’s main goals.
“There's something to be said about the individuals that are running for single districts and how they represent their neighborhood,” Commissioner Michael Keller said. “While I personally don't love the idea of having The IQ area split, I think it’s a better option to keep unity in the CityLine community.”
Option A will now go to City Council during a late April meeting for consideration.
The city charter requires council to appoint a commission every 10 years to review the district boundaries and ensure population equality among them, according to a staff memo. The current district boundaries were adopted following the 2010 Census, but needed to be redrawn in accordance with population growth reflected in the 2020 Census.
The Richardson City Council consists of the mayor, two at-large council members and four district council members. Council members representing a district must reside within their district's boundaries, but they are elected by voters citywide, according to the city.
More information on the boundary commission options can be found below.
