Two competing proposals to redraw Montgomery County’s council districts would realign the county, but in two very different ways. The two proposals, set to be presented at a public hearing Thursday night, were created last month by Republican Henry Kahwaty and Democrat Don Spence, both commission members.
The county, the most populous in the state, has seen significant demographic shifts since the districts were last drawn 10 years ago. Though the council-appointed commission proposes the new districts, the council makes the ultimate decision on what they will look like.
| To see the redistricting proposals |
| www.montgomerycountymd.gov/csltmpl.asp?url=/content/council/redistricting/Commissioner_Maps/index.asp |
Kahwaty’s proposal extends District 2 — currently the upper county and part of Olney — south to Potomac in the west and Burtonsville in the east. District 1 — now Potomac and Bethesda — becomes Bethesda, Silver Spring and Takoma Park. Rockville and Gaithersburg, in District 3, are divided. And District 4 — east county — shrinks to cover the southeast portion of the county.
Kahwaty, an Olney resident, said he tried to keep rural areas grouped in one district and the densely populated areas inside the Beltway — Silver Spring and Bethesda — grouped in another.
He said he separated Rockville and Gaithersburg because the populations in those areas had grown too large to be in the same district.
By contrast, Spence’s proposal incorporates Poolesville into the same district as Bethesda and Potomac and Burtonsville into the same district as Silver Spring and Takoma Park. District 4 is shifted north, including Laytonsville, Brookeville and Olney but also extending south to Wheaton.
“The goal was to try to keep the communities together, or bring them together so they’re not divided up into different districts,” said Spence, describing a goal shared by Kahwaty. For example, both said they wanted Olney — currently divided — in one district.
Spence disagreed with District 2 on Kahwaty’s map. “Can you imagine being the council member trying to cover that entire district? It doesn’t make sense.”
That district would take up more than one-third of the land in the county and have the smallest population — but it also would contain the majority of the county’s Republican population.
Spence said the proposal demonstrates “how difficult it is to create a Republican district just based on the voter registration in Montgomery County.”
However, Western Montgomery County Citizens Advisory Board President Jeff Hearle said he understands the logic of Kahwaty’s proposal for Berliner’s district.
“Bethesda and Silver Spring seem to me to be, from a development perspective, more aligned than Bethesda and Poolesville.”
