N. Charleston Council to advance one of three redistricting maps

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - North Charleston City Council continued working on its redistricting plan Thursday evening.

During Thursday’s committee of the whole meeting, council members voted to move forward with the Feb. 22 draft of the redistricting map.

Three maps were up for consideration ahead of the meeting. One is a draft from Feb. 6, one is from Feb. 22 and one is the second NAACP proposal.

This meeting will move the redistricting process along, but it still will not be a final decision on a map.

The map chosen on Thursday evening will still have to go through two additional discussions and votes with the council in their next two meetings.

“The last redistricting was after the 2010 Census, this is after the 2020 Census, and this will inform the public who their council members will be and who they will be voting for in the November election,” North Charleston Public Information Officer Ryan Johnson said.

For over a month now, the council has been taking in public feedback to help steer this process.

The council expects public comment and discussion to continue at this meeting.

The city’s goal is to have a finalized map before the November election, but one candidate running for District 10 does not believe this should be rushed.

“They’re pushing us to give our comments, but they’re pushing to vote on it, where I think that this is something that the city should consider tabling until after the election,” Aaron Hicks said.

He believes they are close enough to November that it would make sense for the newly elected council to take this task on.

“This is something that has to happen because when census is done, of course it shows how the growth of the city happens, but I just think that with how the city has grown, especially with the mayor not running again, this is a very vital, important time to make sure we get this right,” Hicks said.

He says this decision will affect major change for residents in the city and needs to be handled delicately.

Johnson says it’s legally not possible to wait until after the next election to discuss redistricting.

The chosen map will be in front of the entire council at the March 23 meeting.

Should another reading be required, it is expected to take place at the April 13 meeting.

For additional information and a close up at the maps, click here.

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