Allegheny County Council passed a bill on Tuesday redrawing the County's thirteen Council Districts in a way that forces about 10 percent of the county's population into new districts.
The law will go into effect immediately if signed by County Executive Rich Fitzgerald.
County Councilwoman Barbara Daly Danko headed the committee charged with redrawing the district map. She said the new districts reflect population shifts within the county.
"There was significant population increase in the North Hills, and significant population losses in parts of the city and in the Mon Valley," said Danko.
District 2 in the North Hills gave upthe most population and land area in the redistricting process. The communities of Hampton and West Deer went south to District 3.
"The way we described it is, the map kind of 'waterfalled' so that some of District 2 moved down into District 3; some of District 3 moved into District 7; and then all the way getting down to the Mon Valley," said Danko.
Plum Borough also saw a big move. It slid into District 8 with Monroeville.
Danko said before the reapportionment, the Districts' populations varied as much as 25% — well over the legal limit of a 10% variation. The new districts have a 7.3% variation, according to Danko. County's population satands at 1.22 million.
The reapportionment bill passed on a 14-0 vote, with one abstention by Councilman Michael Finnerty. It's expected to become law within the week.
County reapportionment occurs every ten years, based on the U.S. Census.
