Prince George's Redistricting Plan Set for Final Vote

A plan to redraw the political districts in Prince George's County cleared a major hurdle earlier this week when the Prince George's County Council set a Nov. 1 public hearing for the plan, to be followed by a final vote.

According to federal law, redrawing district lines in accordance with U.S. Census data. The nine districts in Prince George’s County must be equal in population and not change more or less than 5 percent in population, according to law.

County planners have been holding hearings for months for input on how to redraw district lines. A final draft emerged for introduction on Tuesday. Council members said they wanted to ensure communities in the county stayed intact within districts.

"We went with the least change model," said Council Chair Ingrid M. Turner. "We're trying to keep communities together."

Changes include:

• City of Bowie will be entirely in District 4.
• Greenbelt Metro Station will be moved from District 1 to District 4, along with the City of Greenbelt.
• Camp Springs will be moved entirely into District 8 from District 7.
• Southern Fort Washington will be moved into District 8 from District 9.

Councilwoman Mary A. Lehman the Greenbelt Metro station in District 1 along with North College Park, Laurel, Adelphi, and Calverton but said city officials in Greenbelt opposed keeping it there. They instead wanted the station to be in the same district as the city.

"Greenbelt came down and made a level of noise and insisted that they wanted to stay intact," she said. 

Community members who wanted the station to stay in District 1--part of the station is considered to be within the College Park boundries--did not come out in large numbers to support the move, she said.