Map makers
Commission presents suggested changes for Stratford’s municipal election boundaries
Nearly 300 Stratford residents could find themselves voting in a different ward during a municipal election this fall.
The Stratford Electoral Boundaries Commission presented its proposed ward boundary map to members of the public and council during a meeting at town hall Tuesday night.
While the commission members could have re-drawn the boundaries from scratch, member Kevin Jenkins said they considered what would be least disruptive to residents.
“We didn’t want to change the boundaries too much, we wanted to affect as few residents as possible while bringing things into compliance with the bylaw,” said Jenkins.
The town’s bylaw doesn’t permit a more than 10 per cent variance in excess of or below the average number of electors. With 6,502 total electors in the town, the average for each ward is 2,167.
Chairman John McQuaid said while the boundaries are currently in a “fairly good measure” of equality, Ward 2 Stewart Cove is 10.2 per cent above average with 2,388 electors.
“So, what we’re recommending is reducing the size
of Ward 2 to get it below the 10 per cent,” said McQuaid, noting that Ward 2 appears to be nearly “maxed out” for growth based on its current zoning.
The proposed changes would see about 80 voters being moved from Ward 2 into Ward 1 Kellys Cove. At the same time, about 188 voters would be moved from Ward 1 to Ward 3 Tea Hill.
That would result in Ward 1 being 7.1 per cent below average, although it is the area expected to grow the most over the next eight years, said McQuaid.
“(This) would allow it to grow into the average,” he said.
The move would also see Ward 3, which has a lot of farmland that is not “potentially developable at this point”, placed within 0.6 variance above average.
The commission arrived at the proposed boundaries, which are reviewed following every three municipal elections, after looking at population and growth patterns as well as a number of other factors.
The commission began working on the boundaries in February and has to submit its proposal to council by May 31.
“They can accept it in part or they can accept it all,” said McQuaid.” They have some flexibility.”
Public comments and suggestions on the proposed boundary map can be submitted to info@ townofstratford.ca or by writing to the Stratford Electoral Boundaries Commission, located at 234 Shakespeare Dr. in Stratford.