City officials and members of the Reapportionment and Redistricting Ad Hoc Committee met Wednesday night to further discuss plans for redistricting Madison.
Several proposals were presented and committee members were given the opportunity to comment.
Ald. Scott Resnick, District 8, said he was concerned about the redistricting plans for District 8. He argued the Lakeshore dorms, which are currently a part of District 5, should be included in District 8.
City officials and members of the committee agreed and plan to include the Lakeshore dorms within District 8 on their newly revised redistricting maps.
Resnick also said Smith Hall and Ogg Hall should be in the same district. According to the last redistricting proposal, Ogg Hall will become a part of District 8 while Smith Hall will remain in District 4.
""I do not have strong feelings whether these dorms are in District 4 or District 8, as long as they are together,"" Resnick said. ""I have not received any complaints with their current location in District 4.""
While a consensus was not reached about the placement of these dorms, committee members said they were concerned that including these dorms in the same district may significantly change the populations of each district.
According to the Redistricting Committee's criteria for drawing aldermanic districts, it is essential for each district to contain an equal number of inhabitants.
""This process can be quite difficult,"" committee member Mark Richardson said. ""If you change one thing something else has to change, there are tradeoffs that have to be made.""
Resnick's final concern regarding District 8 pertained to the separation of Statesider and The Towers, both private dorms, into two separate districts. The current plan separates Statesider into District 8 and The Towers into District 2.
""These two private dorms share a cafeteria,"" Resnick said. ""I don't quite understand why they are being separated into two separate districts.""
Committee members will meet with city council tonight to present tentative plans and issues.
