Newport News is redrawing its voting districts, and City Council wants feedback from citizens

The Newport News City Council is mulling over three different redistricting recommendations after the 2020 census found the city’s three voting districts were no longer equal.

The results from the 2020 census showed that since 2010, the city’s population grew from 180,719 to 186,247. The city redistricts every 10 years based on the results of the census.

In the council’s informal work session Tuesday, council members were divided between two of the three options.

The council narrowly favored an option that would move the Knollwood Meadows and Sanford precincts from the central district to the north and Warwick and Hilton to the south. Jenkins and Oyster Point would move from the north to the central.

Looking at that option, Newport News Mayor McKinley Price said the map aesthetically looked to be the fairest.

“It does not look gerrymandered. It looks even. It looks like three equal districts,” he said.

All three of the redistricting maps were created based on population and have to be drawn using observable boundaries such as waterways or highways. The districts must be compact in shape and the precincts within the district must touch geographically.

“I just want to make sure that we’re clear that we’re not trying to change anyone’s voting district, even though it will shift, the maps were not based on voting districts,” Vice Mayor Saundra Cherry said.

She and Price, along with council members Marcellus Harris III and Sharon Scott, favored the same map.

Council members David Jenkins and Patricia Woodbury, who both represent the central district, and Tina Vick, who represents the south district, favored a map that would keep Warwick and Hilton in the central district and move River from the south to the central. The south district would pick up the Deer Park precinct from the central. Knollwood Meadows and Sanford would move from the central district to the north, and Jenkins and Oyster Point would move from the north to the central.

The city also needs to redistrict to get in compliance with state code requirements.

The city is in the process of hosting meetings in each of the districts to collect citizen input. Residents who can’t attend their district meeting but want to provide feedback can call Tolu Ibikunle, a senior planner for the city, at 757-926-8761 or send an email to ibikunleto@nnva.gov.

The City Council will hold a public hearing and vote on the map at its meeting on March 22. The map will then have to be approved by the Virginia Attorney General’s Office.

To view all three of the maps the city is considering, visit www.nnva.gov/2724/2022-Redistricting.

Jessica Nolte, 757-912-1675, jnolte@dailypress.com