The Harford County Council introduced a new council district map Tuesday that stayed very close to the existing one, scrapping the advisory commission's recommendation of swapping parts of Districts E (Aberdeen - Churchville) and F (Havre de Grace – Abingdon).
The map was part of a bill sponsored by all the council members and moves a handful of voting precincts, including one in the Forest Hill area of District C and a few in the Joppatowne area.
The redistricting committee presented its plan to the council on Sept. 13, and a hearing was held on the committee's plan Oct. 11.
A hearing on the council's revised plan is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Nov. 15.
The new plan would move nine precincts: 1-02 Joppa-Magnolia from District A to B; 1-07 Winters Run from District A to B; 1-10 Abingdon from District F to A; 1-13 Abingdon from District B to F; 1-15 Constant Friendship from District B to A; 3-13 Bel Air from District C to B; 3-19 Bel Air from District E to C; 3-24 Frogtown from District C to D; and 6-05 Aberdeen from District F to E.
None of the council members discussed the new map during Tuesday's council meeting. The redistricting process got almost no public comment earlier this month.
Several council members, including Dick Slutzky and council president Billy Boniface, had expressed concerns with the commission's proposal, which would have moved 21 voting precincts.
Chris Pate, chairman of the redistricting committee, said he was not surprised the council rejected the top recommendation from him and his committee peers Ben Lloyd and Jason Gallion.
"Did we think it was going to generate some opposition? Sure, in particular Dick Slutzky and Mary Ann Lisanti," Pate said, explaining the recommendation would have made the district of Slutzky, who is Republican, more Democratic and the district of Councilwoman Mary Ann Lisanti, a Democrat, more Republican.
"We came up with a map that we believed, and I think we all still believe, kept communities of common interest together," he said. "We were disappointed they didn't go with that [recommendation]. If we didn't think it was the best one, we wouldn't have made it."
Pate said the committee did come up with other recommendations that were closer to the map the council introduced, knowing the council might want to be more conservative.
"I didn't like the fact that they divided Abingdon. That was something we really struggled with because it has so many people," Pate said. "We identified at the outset of our process that it was a priority as much as possible to keep Abingdon together."
But, Pate said, "at the end of the day, I am not going to second-guess too much what they did."