BARBERTON: The City of Barberton could see ward redistricting.
Stormwater utility manager Alan Keltyka presented ward boundary changes to council members Monday night following population changes released in the 2010 census report.
Council considers redistricting every 10 years, the last being in 2010.
“[The purpose] is to minimize the difference in sizes between wards,” Keltyka said, who calculated all changes and was chosen from the Planning Commission Board to present.
Currently, the average population in each ward is 4,425 residents, with ward 3 being the largest. However, some blocks within the wards range from zero people, such as parks, to several hundred people in high rises, Keltyka explained.
Ward 3 is 30 percent larger than ward 4 with 1,130 more people. In other surrounding communities, the difference in population variation is only 10 to 15 percent.
Keltyka presented a plan to shift wards by taking people from ward 3 and placing them in ward 2, taking from ward 2 and placing in 1, and taking from 1 and placing in 4. Wards 5 and 6 will not be touched.
“We can’t do a simple movement from each ward because there is no place where wards 3 and 4 touch,” Keltyka said.
In his plan, ward 1 would gain 251 residents, ward 2 would gain 125 residents, ward 3 would lose 971 residents, and ward 4 would gain 595 residents.
This will make ward 3 only 2 percent larger than ward 4 and 12 percent larger than ward 6.
Keltyka stressed that if anyone has questions regarding the proposal call the Planning Department at 330-848-6729.
