St. Augustine Record:

County, School Board nearing agreement on district boundaries
Posted: December 11, 2011 - 12:44am
From staff

St. Johns County Commissioners last week chose a compromise redistricting map, called Revised Map J, to indicate their preferences for where county district lines should be.

School Board Chairwoman Beverly Slough said her board is leaning toward that same map, with four members learning toward approving it and one opposed.

“Last meeting, we talked about it,” Slough said. “It’s on our agenda for Tuesday morning.”

By law, district lines must be redrawn every 10 years but two Florida constitutional amendments made the job trickier.

The lines mean little to County Commissioners, who run at large.

But School Board members are elected by district.

The county’s Revised Map J — created by a weekend workshop between American Public Dialogue’s John Libby and St. Augustine County Attorney Patrick McCormack — unites Lincolnville and West Augustine in District 2.

That district is represented by Commissioner Ron Sanchez and School Board member Tommy Allen and consists of the southwestern part of the county.

It stretches from the Flagler County line nearly to County Road 210.

In District 5, Revised J also keeps St. Augustine together. It’s represented by Commissioner Ken Bryan and School Board member Carla Wright.

District 4, represented by Commission Vice Chairman Jay Morris and School Board member Bill Fehling, contains Ponte Vedra Beach and points south. Its west flank is anchored on U.S. Highway 1, stretches down the coast to a point just south of Northeast Florida Regional Airport.

The population of District 1 in the northwest, represented by Commissioner Cyndi Stevenson and school Chairwoman Slough, has grown so rapidly that its area has diminished.

However, District 3, represented by County Commission Chair Mark Miner and Bill Mignon, becomes slightly larger but mostly stayed the same.

School Board members had already approved Revised Plan C, but black leaders opposed reducing the percentage of their voters by separating Lincolnville, West Augustine and Hastings.

They wanted to see Revised Map E implemented, which would have united those three areas.

For various reasons, one being that they didn’t want a district stretching from the St. Johns River to the City Marina, the School Board approved Revised C.