Minimal changes in voting districts

The Lafourche Parish council approved reapportionment plan 3A last Wednesday during a special meeting. The council will seek finalization after a public hearing at the regularly scheduled April 26 council meeting.

South Central Planning and Development Commission worked to reshape the parish’s voting districts and presented a modified plan, which took into account individual councilmen’s wishes while still staying with the 5 percent allowable deviation from the ideal district population of 10,702.

“You obviously have to compromise,” said Kevin Belanger, CEO of the planning commission. “The shifting in the population from the southern part of the parish to the northern part of the parish had to occur. District 9 had to go north and put pressure upon District 8 and 7 and 6, and we were able to basically work it out.”

District 7, undergoing perhaps the most notable change, became more centralized. Gone is Pointe-Aux-Chenes and the southern border of St. Charles Parish and all of Precinct 10-1 in the jurisdiction that Councilman Phillip Gouaux currently occupies.

District 5 would extend down the central western border of the parish and pick up Pointe-Aux-Chenes.

The 7th District westernmost boundary would be Hope Farm Road. Along Bayou Lafourche, the district encompasses the east side south of State Road 654 and the west side south of Bourgeois Street. Its southernmost boundary is La. Highway 657.

District 7 would also gain the northern half of Lockport, which was previously in District 6.

“I personally put in a lot of time looking at it and trying to massage it to where it would be best for the public and the parish,” Gouaux said. “Hopefully the constituents of the parish will see that it is a decent plan and one that they can live with.”

Aside from losing half of the municipality, the 6th District would lose all of Precinct 9-1, which is on the east side of Bayou Lafourche, south from State Road 654.

“I’m losing a lot of my people, but you go with the flow,” Toups said. “I kind of let [other councilmen] put it together.”

District 1, represented by Jerry Jones, would remain the parish’s lone minority district with a 54.3 percent black population. Jones said after the meeting that he was pleased with the map.

District 9, represented by Daniel Lorraine, would have both the most people, 10,997, and the most land. The most southern and densely populated district extended its reach even further north.

District 4, represented by Joe Feritta, would have the smallest population, 10,172, which is a 4.95 percent deviation from the ideal number. The deviation limit is 5 percent.

The planning commission originally proposed three reapportionment plants to the parish council at a specially scheduled meeting following the March 22 council meeting.

Plan 3A, considered a map that takes into account community commonality and infrastructure needs, is a reformed version of Plan 3, which was in turn derived from individual councilmen’s wishes.

The deadline to submit a reapportionment plan to the U.S. Department of Justice is May 20.