Columbia City Council approves new ward boundaries Monday night

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Columbia City Council approved new ward boundaries Monday night.

Council members ended up approving Map B which was their reapportionment recommendation, but there was an amendment made to this map that would make some changes.

• 

The original draw up of this map shows that 2,958 people would move to a different ward including; 1,225 people from 1st Ward to 2nd Ward, 1,135 from 5th Ward to 4th Ward, 698 from 6th Ward to 4th Ward, and no changes to the 3rd Ward.

The areas that would be impacted in each ward originally included:

In Ward 1 between Stadium and Silvey, transfer of 1,125 people. The northeast area of 5th Ward, from the MKT Trail to Providence Road, transfers 1,135 from the 5th Ward to the 4th Ward. An area east of Providence Road, south of Stadium Boulevard, transfers 698 people from 6th Ward to 4th Ward.

The areas affected are what was changed with an amendment presented by Ward 5 councilman, Matt Pitzer. Pitzer's amendment will now change the transfers from Ward 5 to Ward 4. The district line will now run across the Hinkson Creek to Providence, likely moving less people to Ward 4.

The city says since the last ward map was adopted in 2011, the city’s six wards have grown at different rates and are not equal in population.

The 2020 Census reported that Columbia’s population was 126,254. The average ward population (126,254 divided
by 6) is 21,042. The object of redistricting is to increase or reduce ward populations to a figure close to the average.

Before the new map, numbers showed that three wards, 1st, 5th, and 6th, have an excess of population above the average ward population; in wards 2 and 4, they contain significantly less than the average ward population and the 3rd Ward is nearly the average population.

Map B before the amendment would bring those numbers to all around the average with 1st Ward at 21,033, 2nd Ward at 20,814, 3rd Ward at 21,052, 4th Ward at 21,031, 5th Ward at 21,072 and 6th Ward at 21,252.

Two other map options were also available. Map A would have transferred a total of 3,673 people to a different ward including; 1,125 from 1st Ward to 2nd Ward, 1,853 from 5th Ward to 4th Ward, and 695 from 6th Ward to 5th Ward, plus no changes to 3rd Ward.

Ward 3 councilman, Karl Skala, was the only member of council to vote in favor of Map A.

The most people would have been moved in Map C with 6,560. This includes 1,132 from 1st Ward to 6th Ward, 189 from 1st Ward to 2nd Ward, 274 from 3rd Ward to 1st Ward, 1,147 from 3rd Ward to 2nd Ward, 1,270 from 6th Ward to 3rd Ward, 1,853 from 5th Ward to 4th Ward and 695 from 6th Ward to 5th Ward.

Ward 1 councilwoman, Pat Fowler, was the only member of council to vote in favor of Map C.

Fowler was also the only council member to vote against Map B. She presented an amendment to Map B to make additional changes in Ward 1, but council rejected the amendment.

The redistricting will take effect after the municipal election on April 5.