Henrico releases draft map of proposed new boundaries for its 5 magisterial districts

(Use the slider in the image above to toggle between the current magisterial district boundaries, established in 2011, and the proposed boundaries that would take effect in 2022.)

Henrico planning officials have released a draft map of proposed changes to the boundaries of the county’s five magisterial districts as part of their reapportionment process.

The plan would shift the boundaries of each district slightly in order to move each one as close as reasonably possible to the ideal number of residents (66,878 – one-fifth of the county’s population of 334,389) without significantly altering their general physical or demographic composition.

The update is required under state law every decade, following the release of new U.S. Census data. The county’s board of supervisors anticipates voting to adopt a proposal Dec. 14, following one more public input session (Oct. 27) and two public hearings (Nov. 30 and Dec. 14). The board previously held a public hearing Oct. 12 and an input session Monday.

Planners were tasked with reducing the number of residents in the Three Chopt District (which was about 8,700 over the ideal population) and adding residents to the county’s two easternmost districts, Fairfield and Varina (each of which was under the ideal population by more than 4,300).

(Use the slider in the image above to toggle between the Henrico County density map from 2010 and the density map from 2020).

To do so, they have proposed sending a northeastern portion of the Three Chopt District – everything east of Cox Road and south of the Hanover County line – to the neighboring Brookland District to the north; and a southern portion including the Regency Square and Henrico Doctors’ Hospital areas to the Tuckahoe District to the south. Those changes would reduce Three Chopt’s population to nearly 69,000, or about 2.8% above the ideal total. (Districts are permitted to be within 5% of that ideal level.)

Varina, which borders only the Fairfield District, would expand slightly to the west by picking up two groups of Fairfield residents:

• those south of Laburnum Avenue, east of Nine Mile Road and west of the railroad tracks, generally near Adams Elementary School;
• a small pocket along the east line of Cedar Fork Road west of Nine Mile Road.

The additions would leave Varina nearly 1,800 residents below the ideal population.

Fairfield then would pick up more of Lakeside from Brookland – everything east of Hilliard Road and south of Hermitage Road to the railroad tracks and east to the Richmond/Henrico line – and return a section of Glen Allen south of I-295 and west of Woodman Road to Brookland. The changes would leave Fairfield more than 2,100 residents below the ideal population.

By picking up some residents from Fairfield and others from Three Chopt, Brookland’s population would grow to nearly 2,000 more that the ideal total.

Tuckahoe, with its addition of the two small pockets of residents from Three Chopt, would see its population grow to nearly 1,000 more than the idea total.

All five districts would be within 3.5% of the target population.

On Dec. 16, the county will submit its proposal to the Virginia Attorney General’s Office for preclearance, in order to comply with the Virginia Voting Rights Act passed earlier this year. That act mimics, at the state level, the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965, which for decades required localities in 16 southern states to submit their reapportionment plans to the U.S. Department of Justice for preclearance, as a way to ensure the proposals were not discriminatory (given a history of discriminatory actions in those states).

The U.S. Supreme Court ended that federal requirement for Virginia and other states in 2013, determining that it was no longer necessary.

Approval from the attorney general – or indication that there is an objection to the proposal – will come by Feb. 22, and subsequently the proposal would take effect.

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For details about the reapportionment process, visit http://www.henrico.us/reapp2021.