AUGUSTA, Georgia (WJBF) – You will soon be able to give your opinion to the Augusta-Richmond County’s Ad Hoc Redistricting Committee.
“It’s a big card. That’s a big area to cover, so to think that one or two people could look at this and fully understand everything in it is silly, ”said Lynn Bailey, director of the Richmond County Electoral Committee.
Dates are now being set for public hearings on the redistribution of Augusta-Richmond County. Committee chairman Sean Frantom said they are on their way.
He explained, “We’ll start next Monday. Go Monday, Wednesday, Monday, Wednesday for the next two weeks. “
The first public hearing will be held on October 18 at 6:00 p.m. at Belair K-8 School (3925 Harper Franklin Ave, Augusta, GA 30909)
After the draft card was released about a week ago, many people have already sent some of their concerns to the committee, according to Frantom.
He said, “I think they think the draft is the plan. It’s just a start from someone in Atlanta who doesn’t really understand all of the neighborhoods in the community, but it’s definitely a start. “
“We don’t ask our citizens to go out and try to come up with a plan for us. That’s what this committee is doing, but we hope to give citizens the tools to review the map and point out things they would like to see differently, “Bailey said.
She found that four more neighborhoods will be split as part of the map design.
She added, “But we also know that 10 years ago when we relocated, we had 10 or 11 neighborhoods that were then divided. People might want to try to put some of these quarters back together. “
At the committee meeting on Wednesday, Bailey demonstrated how the new interactive map design works.
She said, “You can zoom down and look at parcels in a neighborhood and see what street they are on, what district they are in, and how many people live there. And what the ethnicity of the people who live there. “
The map design shows other parts of the city in Augusta that have been divided by the redistribution
The reallocation committee will meet again in November after the public hearings. Frantom says no upfront changes will be made to the map design. District 3 has seen more than 20% growth over the past 10 years. Bailey calls the area the “difference maker”.
Click or tap here to submit reallocation submissions online.