Community Corner

Borough Council to Vote on New Wards in November

If the proposal of the redistricting committee is approved, the North Ward would lose 1,100 residents.

Once thing’s clear: the North Ward is about to get a lot smaller.

At Tuesday night’s regular meeting, the Phoenixville ward redistricting committee—the five-man body tasked with redrawing the ward lines to balance the population across the four—made its final proposal to the borough council; a plan that would, among other tweaks, shrink the North Ward by over 1,100 residents. 

The council voted to advertise the changes and consider the proposal at its November meeting.

Find out what's happening in Phoenixvillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The proposal (pictured in the PDF attached to this article), left the West Ward with a population of 4,120, up from 3,683; the South Ward (formerly the East Ward) with a population of 4,093, up from 3,688; the Middle Ward with a population of 4,095, up from 3,829; and the North Ward with a population of 4,132, down from 5,240.

The committee—comprised of Middle Ward councilwoman Jenn Mayo, North Ward councilman Christopher Bauers, Mayor Leo Scoda, and citizens Larry Tillotson and Michael Kuznar—said its aim was several fold.

Find out what's happening in Phoenixvillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

  • It set out to to make the ward populations as balanced as possible. Specifically, it set a target population of 4,110 for each ward (this was arrived at by dividing the borough’s 2010 Census population of 16,440 by four) and aimed to keep the average deviation of all the wards within 4.08 percent of this marker. It met this goal.
  • The wards were to, to the greatest extent possible, be kept as compact and contiguous as possible.
  • The redistricting was to be done without regard to politics, though, by the admission of Tillotson, the proposal was drawn up with an eye on the impact it would have on current councilmembers. The committee attempted to ensure they continue to represent the people that elected them.

The committee, at its October 4 meeting, voted 3-0 to approve the proposal. It will meet one more time to mull a recommendation to Chester County Voter Services on how precincts within the borough should be drawn.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here