St. Lucie County Commission adopts new district boundaries
St. Lucie County, Fl (treasurecoast.com) -The St. Lucie County Commission has adopted new district boundaries.
The booming population here could have changed who your county commissioner is.
In a 4-1 vote Tuesday, the County Commission adopted new district boundaries for the next 10 years.
Commissioner Frannie Hutchinson, who represents District 4 — which includes St. Lucie West, White City and Spanish Lakes — cast the no vote without explanation. District 4 had the largest change in its boundary.
Counties are required to redraw commission boundaries every 10 years to address population shifts and new developments, based on U.S. Census data. Districts must be generally equal in terms of population.
St. Lucie County population grew 18.5% between the 2010 and 2020 censuses, increasing from 277,789 residents to 329, 226, census data shows. Much of that growth occurred in Port St. Lucie, where population grew 23%, from 164,203 residents to nearly 202,000.
As a result of that growth, each new County Commission district will comprise about 65,845 people, roughly 10,000 more than now.
Districts 2 and 3, represented by commissioners Sean Mitchell and Linda Bartz, respectively, include southern Port St. Lucie. Those boundaries remain largely unchanged.
The Port St. Lucie Civic Center now is in District 3 instead of District 2.
The western boundary of District 4 now ends at Glades Cut off Road instead of stretching out to portions of Sneed Road. Additionally, the PGA Golf Club now is in District 4 rather than District 5.
District 1, represented by Commissioner Chris Dzadovsky, now includes Treasure Coast International Airport, which was previously in District 5.
Other redistricting options called for incorporating north and south Hutchison Island into the same district. It was a popular option among some island residents and something there’s been an expressed desire for since 2011 redistricting, according to city documents.
Confused, view the new district boundaries online: https://slc.maps.arcgis.com.
