York County voting lines will change. Here’s the latest map, and why it isn’t set yet
One vote that will shape all others in York County, for a decade, isn’t quite ready to be cast.
York County Council deferred a decision Monday night on new council district boundaries. New district lines are needed to balance population totals after the 2020 Census.
High-growth areas like Fort Mill will gain representation as boundaries shrink in land area but grow in how many districts serve the town or cities. More rural areas would likely see larger districts by land area.
Council spent considerable time in recent months mulling options that swap neighborhoods or communities to balance population changes and federal law requirements related to minority representation and voting equity. Council hasn’t yet reached its final answer.
“There’s more discussion that needs to be made before I think any of us can really support the map that we voted on for first reading, and I don’t want to just keep voting it through,” said Councilman Robert Winkler, who represents Dist. 3 in western York County.
Council hired a specialist in voting maps to help create the districts. Council and the consultant narrowed in on a map similar to what they believe will work, but one that still needs minor changes.
“We’re waiting for (the consultant) to get back to us too on finalizing some of his recommendations,” said Chairwoman Christi Cox, who represents parts of Rock Hill and Fort Mill in Dist. 5.
Keeping communities together
Last month, Council met deep into the night at a workshop on redistricting lines. Members quickly dismissed two potential maps but labored down to the community or even street level to figure out what to do with Clover, Baxter, the developing Masons Bend development in Fort Mill and others.
Maps that showed options on the west side of Clover — some had it in Winkler’s Dist. 3, others in Councilwoman Allison Love’s Dist. 2 — highlighted a common theme. Council wants to keep communities together.
“I don’t want to split Clover with either of us,” Winkler said.
Love wanted to keep the Roosevelt area with the rest of Clover. She and others spent little time on a map that would’ve given her district Tega Cay, rather than keeping it with Fort Mill. Winkler had concerns with one map version that showed his district reaching into western Rock Hill.
The rural, western York County district Winkler serves today already feels under-represented compared to larger cities and towns, he said. A scenario where people there could have their only council seat taken by a city resident, he said, could worsen that sentiment.
“Most of my district has no shared interest with Rock Hill,” Winkler said at the workshop. “Western York County would feel like they have no representation.”
Cox knows the challenge of a varied base.
Her district has large subdivisions in Fort Mill, the Catawba Indian Nation, properties off Interstate 77 in a growing part of Rock Hill and others in rural southwestern Rock Hill. Cox said at the workshop she’s heard from people in Fort Mill who see the population explosion in the past decade as reason for more political representation.
“It’s always been difficult to represent that area,” Cox said.
Expected map changes
The decision Monday night moves the next map vote back to Jan. 18. Prior, Council will have a workshop to finalize details. If a new map gets a green light on Jan. 18, it still would require one final vote as early as Feb. 7.
The new map likely will be a slight modification of one presented ahead of the deferred vote Monday night. That new York County map shows some significant changes compared to the current boundaries:
District 1
Today Dist. 1 covers northern Fort Mill and Tega Cay. It includes the Gold Hill, Waterstone, Pleasant Road, Regent Park and Springfield areas. It has the Orchard Park area that bumps up against home-heavy Baxter, which it splits with Dist. 7. High population growth will shrink the Dist. 1 footprint with redistricting.
The proposed map keeps all of Tega Cay and the northernmost parts of unincorporated Fort Mill. It includes all of the Market Street area of Baxter, an addition of homes. It loses everything below Regent Park on the east side, notably the massive Springfield subdivision and homes near Nation Ford High School.
District 2
The existing Dist. 2 includes Lake Wylie and Clover. It goes down to the Allison Creek Road peninsula on the east and dips south to Old York Road at its center. It just touches S.C. 161 on its southwest border.
The proposed Dist. 2 still has the higher-population Lake Wylie. It has most of Clover, but loses some of the Roosevelt community. It only includes the northern part of the New Home precinct, and doesn’t reach Jim McCarter Road on its south side.
District 3
The most acreage among the seven districts easily falls in Dist. 3. It covers western York County from Chester Highway in the south and western Clover in the north. Its middle section reaches as far east as Adnah Church Road.
The new map still shows all of western York County in Dist. 3. It loses property in the south, where it reaches only to Turkey Creek. It gains in the north, notably part of the Roosevelt community in western Clover. In its center, the district reaches as far east as Rawlinson Road and West Oak Drive in Rock Hill, both adding considerable homes.
District 4
The downtown Rock Hill area falls in Dist. 4. It’s the only district in York County where, among voting age populations, Black residents are the majority. Dist. 4 runs from I-77 on the east to Oakdale Road and Saluda Street on the south, Highway 324 and Russell Road on the west and a little past Main Street and Dave Lyle Boulevard to the north.
The new map loses area in the Northwestern precinct.
It gains property up to Piedmont Medical Center. It loses parts of Firetower Road to the east. The proposed district extends farther south to Marshall and Dunlap Roddey roads. It also follows more of Highway 324. The district adds land on the west to Gordon and Parris roads, in the Oakridge area.
District 5
Perhaps the most varied base, Dist. 5 today runs from the heavily populated southern Fort Mill corridor along Dobys Bridge Road to the Manchester and Springdale areas of Rock Hill, the Lesslie and Catawba areas in southeastern York County and the rural parts or Rock Hill as far west as Chester Highway in McConnells.
The new map shows less Fort Mill, with Dist. 5 starting south of Dobys Bridge. It reaches further west into Rock Hill, to Anderson Road. It still includes the Catawba Indian Nation but goes further west past McConnells, to Turkey Creek.
District 6
Northern Rock Hill falls in Dist. 6. It has the Ebinport, Ebenezer, Allison Creek, Mt. Gallant and India Hook areas. It covers both sides of Celanese Road and includes the city airport. It also borders Lake Wylie.
The proposed map reaches to Aragon Beach, Pennington and Rawlinson roads to the west. It still has both sides of Celanese, now to Meadow Lakes, Ebenezer and Cherry roads to the south. I-77 and the Catawba River border to the east. Lake Wylie borders to the north. The district picks up property south of Main, between Meadow Lakes and Landry Lane.
District 7
The current Dist. 7 runs from the Market Street area of Baxter to the Tom Hall Street corridor in Fort Mill on the north side, through downtown Fort Mill and south into the Anderson Road and Winthrop University areas of Rock Hill. It includes the busy Dave Lyle Boulevard, Cherry Road and I-77 corridors.
The new map adds more Fort Mill and less Rock Hill for the district.
It takes on the Springfield and Nation Ford High School areas, and property from Tom Hall south to Dobys Bridge Road. It loses property north of Cherry in Rock Hill, and stops shorter at Oakland Avenue. And it no longer stretches all the way to Dave Lyle, either.
