Panama City Commission holds first reading of ordinance to rezone its wards
PANAMA CITY — The wards of Panama City might soon look a bit different thanks to fluctuations in population.
Panama City commissioners on Tuesday held the first reading of an ordinance to rezone the city's four wards based on population changes reported by the 2020 U.S. Census.
The meeting's agenda notes the changes were sparked by unequal growth in the areas since 2010.
"Along with the census, every 10 years ward boundaries are adjusted to accommodate for any population changes," Commissioner Josh Street of Ward 4 said. "Every single ward adjusted in some way. ... It is a legal process to go through this, so it's not something (we as commissioners control)."
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Information from the city shows the current populations of the wards are: 8,548 residents in Ward 1, 6,614 residents in Ward 2, 8,567 residents in Ward 3 and 9,210 residents in Ward 4.
The proposed changes would make that 8,440 residents in Ward 1, 7,830 residents in Ward 2, 8,506 residents in Ward 3 and 8,163 residents in Ward 4. The goal of rezoning is for no ward to have more than 5% over or under the average population of the four wards.
Street said that after Category 5 Hurricane Michael hit the Panhandle in October 2018, there were regions of Panama City that experienced significant dips in population, while the population of others increased.
The Glenwood Community's population, for example, declined, and the population of the St. Andrew Community grew.
"As a result of that, the boundaries of Ward 2 had to expand, and the boundaries of Ward 4 had to shrink," Street said. "The other two wards, Ward 1 and Ward 3, also adjusted, just not to the (same) extreme."
Commissioners will vote on the second and final reading of the rezoning ordinance at a meeting on Dec. 13.
Street said the biggest change from rezoning would be some residents will live in a different zone, meaning they would then vote for a different commissioner in next year's election.
"It's a very important process," he said. "Up until this change, Ward 4 had about 1,200 more constituents than the other areas of the city. This is about trying to even that out.
"The basis behind it is the population gets a singular representative who represents a certain amount of citizens. ... It's important to show that we have equal voices across the city and equal representation."
This article originally appeared on The News Herald: Panama City is realigning its wards because of population shifts
