Redistricting Officials Ask for Input in Elkridge

What do you think is considered Elkridge? The county wants to know.

As officials look at redrawing districts—a process that occurs every decade, following the census—they need your input.

On Monday, there will be a .

County Councilwoman Courtney Watson, whose district includes Elkridge, alerted residents that this process would affect them, writing on her Facebook page: “District One (currently represented by me) has to become smaller to meet the guidelines.” Currently, that district includes parts of Elkridge, Hanover and Ellicott City.

"District One is the largest district and needs to be reduced," said Watson. "One possible solution is to move more or all of Elkridge into District Two ... made up of east Columbia and Route One south of Route 100."

Some residents find that possibility alarming. "If Elkridge is divided or pulled further into Columbia council districts, there is concern that our representative will have allegiances to constituents that have very different concerns than ours and will water down our voice," said Howard Johnson, president of the Greater Elkridge Community Association, in an e-mail.

The guidelines for districts are as follows: Districts must be “compact, contiguous, substantially equal in population, and have common interest as a result of geography, occupation, history or existing boundaries," according to the county.

Among Howard County's Redistricting Commission of seven appointed members, some said that the last redistricting process divided their neighborhoods so that people across the street from one another were in different districts. Those individuals, speaking at the group's initial meeting on May 24 in Clarksville, were from Columbia and Ellicott City.

To ensure that Elkridge gets represented throughout the redistricting discussion, community members are encouraged to attend the commission meetings.

The will be the second meeting of the Redistricting Commission.

On October 15, the Redistricting Commission will present a plan to the County Council, followed in the next month by a public hearing.