Avoiding silos: Georgina ward boundary review

NRU
Feb. 22, 2017
By Leah Wong

Continuing a historic practice, Georgina council has had one guiding principle throughout its ward boundary review: that each ward include a combination of lakefront, rural and settlement areas.

Last week ward boundary review consultants, Watson and Associates and Dr. Robert Williams, presented two options for council to consider. One is a five-ward structure that maintains the current council size but redraws the boundaries to balance the distribution of population across wards. The other is a six-ward structure, which increases the size of council by adding a ward in Keswick. Since the town was formed in 1971, successive councils have had the expectation that town wards would be comprised of diverse communities.

“The reason we have always made sure everyone has a little bit of urban, a little bit of rural and a little bit of waterfront is to make sure that we are able to represent each of those areas within each of the wards,” regional councillor Naomi Davison told NRU. “I think we’re trying to avoid the danger of any one councillor becoming a silo...[for example] where we have someone that only cares about urban residents. We’ve been able to avoid that.”

This helps councillors better understand how their decisions will affect residents across the town and ensures the interests of all communities are well represented. “It’s not all about population. We want a balance in respect to making sure every one of those communities has a voice moving forward,” said Davison.

The challenge for the consultants has been to achieve a mix of communities, while also balancing population distribution in the growing town. Since the current ward boundaries were introduced in 1996, Georgina’s population has increased by 33 per cent, with much of that growth concentrated in Keswick and the other shoreline communities.

“Currently, there is significant inequalities in the population balance between the wards,” Watson senior project coordinator Erik Karvinen told council. “For example, Ward 1 has approximately twice the number of residents as either Ward 3 or Ward 5. We believe this is a concern.”

The population imbalance is expected to increase as the town continues to grow. Population projections to 2022 show the town will grow by 7 per cent, with Keswick disproportionately absorbing the growth.

The two options recommended by the consultants balance the distribution of population between the wards better than the current system. Williams said the six ward option allows the population to be evenly divided among the wards because it splits Keswick, which has about half the town’s population, into three wards.

Georgina residents had an opportunity to comment on the size and composition of council, and to provide feedback on four preliminary ward structures in the fall. Williams said that the consultants used this  feedback to refine the options that were presented to council last week. However, council was not ready to make a decision and asked for another round of consultation so that residents can comment on the two new options.

“When you make ward boundary changes, you don’t want to change them in four years and then four years again. What we want to do is make something that will fit for Georgina for the next eight to 12 years, at least,” said Davison. While she isn’t sure what the final configuration should look like, Davison said she thinks the two proposed options need some refinements.

Georgina staff is organizing another public meeting, following which staff will report back to council. Davison, the former Ward 1 councillor, was appointed regional councillor after Danny Wheeler died November 2016, so the local seat remains vacant. Given that Ward 1 includes about a third of Keswick, council has to decide whether it wants to vote on the new boundaries before or after the March 27 Ward 1 by-election, town clerk John Espinosa told NRU.