Prince George’s County Council pivoted yet again in the redistricting process during their Tuesday, October 19 meeting. In a contentious vote of 6 to 4, the council agreed to an amended map that will put the population of Greenbelt in District 4, while Greenbelt Park is in District 3. Redistricting is required every 10 years and is driven by the census numbers.
The proposed redistricting map, which has changed three times in as many weeks, began with the work of the Redistricting Commission. The commission met all summer and held several public hearings. The commission, however, was hampered in its task because the census data was not released until August, well after the majority of its work was completed. Nevertheless, the commission submitted a “least change map” in September, which would have minimal impact on the districts as they now stand.
On October 14, County Councilmember Derrick Davis presented a new proposal at the council’s committee meeting. The Davis map differs significantly from the map of the Redistricting Commission, and has a goal of “unifying municipalities within the districts.” That is, each municipality within Prince George’s County would be contained within a single district, so cities and towns are not split on their representation.
The Davis map moved all of Greenbelt into District 3. Other changes included moving most of the City of College Park and the University of Maryland from District 3 into District 1, South Laurel would move into District 4 and Andrews Airforce Base would move from District 8 to 9, among other things.
Between the end of the committee meeting on October 14 and the council meeting on
October 19, councilmembers received hundreds of communications from constituents, as well as letters from University of Maryland President Darryll J. Pines and the City of College Park. As a result, Councilmember Mel Franklin introduced an amended map at the October 19 meeting that aimed at keeping the University of Maryland and the town of College Park together but in the process split Greenbelt, though not Greenbelt’s population.
County Councilmember Todd Turner, District 4, Greenbelt’s current representative, voted for Davis’ map on October 14 and the amended map presented on October 19. “Any time you go through a redistricting, nobody wants to change anything,” he said. However, he said changes are necessary. “We have 104,000 new residents that were counted and we know it is an undercount because of Covid-19.”
He explained that the new map moved Greenbelt Park to District 3 because of Westchester Park, which has a College Park mailing address. Westchester Park was anchored in District 3 with other parts of College Park, so Greenbelt Park, which surrounds the apartments and condos, had to go too.
The proposed map is now part of the public discussion process, with the actual public hearing scheduled for November 16. After the public hearing, the county council will vote on accepting the October 19 proposed map. If the October 19 map is rejected at that time, the map presented by the Redistricting Commission will go into effect.
