SPRINGDALE -- The City Council on Tuesday night approved new voting wards for the city 6-2.
The map for the new wards puts Elm Springs all in Ward 1 covering the northwest corner of town and moves the Har-Ber Meadows subdivision to Ward 3 in the southwest.
Har-Ber Avenue is the dividing line between these wards.
The map also straightens the north-south boundaries between wards. Previously, a "finger" of Ward 4, representing the northeastern quadrant of the city, stretched across North Thompson Street and west to North 40th Street between McRay and Backus avenues.
The chosen map pulls that finger east to South West End Street.
Jeff Hawkins, executive director of the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission, developed four maps for the council to consider.
He said Map 1 and Map 2 kept the ward lines very similar to those currently in place, and Maps 3 and 4 made the ward lines simpler by following bigger roads and not cutting neighborhoods.
The boundaries for all levels of government are redrawn every 10 years, based on new population numbers from a census, Hawkins explained. The ward boundaries for Springdale before the council's vote were set in 2012.
Hawkins used census numbers for the 87,332 population he divided to make the maps. The number included the residents in the former Bethel Heights and other areas annexed into the city since the census was taken, he said.
The federal courts have ruled ward populations can deviate no more than 10% from one another, he said.
Map 3 had the lowest deviation between populations, said Ernest Cate, city attorney, who helped provide information to Hawkins.
Three current council members -- those in Position 1 whose seats expire this year -- will have to run for reelection from a different ward, Hawkins explained.
Council member Brian Powell will move from Ward 1 to Ward 3. Council member Amelia Williams will move from Ward 3 to Ward 4. Council member Mike Lawson will move from Ward 4 to Ward 1.
Springdale voters elect their council members at large, rather than voting just for those representing only the wards where they live, Hawkins said. So the change of wards for any council members should be smooth, he said.
Powell and council member Kevin Flores voted against Map 3 but said after the meeting they were OK with the vote.
"It was my second choice," Flores said. He would have preferred Map 4 because the lines between wards were even more clear cut, he said. But he likes that his ward, Ward 2, all stays east of Turner Street.
Council member Amelia Williams started discussion with a motion for the council to approve Map 3.
Council member Randall Harriman noted that map would move Har-Ber Meadows into Ward 3, but he thought the population of Har-Ber Meadows identified more with the population of Ward 1, where it previously was located.
Powell said during discussion that he preferred Map 1 because it changed the least from the wards the city used before the vote. He thought it would be easiest for residents if the wards stayed mostly the same.
"This vote is totally about the resident," Powell added. "It's not what anybody wants. It's what's best for the residents."
Flores told the council before the vote, "This vote belongs to the citizens. It's not for our personal favors or our political favors. I'm just going to leave it at that."
Flores noted, that on Map 3, Ward 1 had the most residents at 22,075 and Ward 4 had the second most at 21,949. Ward 3 has 21,891, and Ward 2 has 21,417.
Both he and Harriman said they wished for the proverbial crystal ball that would predict population growth in the city, so the council could keep even the balance of population among the wards over the next 10 years.
Harriman referred to the approximately 2,000 new housing units already planned for Ward 2. Flores mentioned the new subdivisions also planned for Ward 1.
Flores said he thought the wards would even out in population as the growth continued.
Residents of Springdale can challenge the council's choice by petitioning the Circuit Court within 90 days, Cate said.
He said the court will uphold the council's decision if the council had a rational basis for its choice, he continued. He and Flores, also an attorney, agreed the council decision was rational.
New Springdale voting wards
Ward 1
Covers the northwestern part of Springdale
• Mike Lawson, Position 1
• Randall Harriman, Position 2
Ward 2
Covers the southeastern part of Springdale
• Mike Overton, Position 1
• Kevin Flores, Position 2
Ward 3
Covers the southwestern part of Springdale
• Brian Powell, Position 1
• Jeff Watson, Position 2
Ward 4
Covers the northeastern part of Springdale
• Amelia Williams, Position 1
• Mark Fougerousse, Position 2
Source: NWA Democrat-Gazette