Yorkville to adjust city council ward boundaries

YORKVILLE – With the Yorkville City Council’s decision earlier this year to stick with eight aldermen, two each from four wards, it now only remains to adjust those ward boundaries to reflect changes in the population distribution.

The populations of city wards, like state legislative or Congressional districts, must be as nearly equal in size as practicable, in order to preserve the Constitutional principle of one person, one vote.

In the 2020 Census, Yorkville’s population increased to 21,533, up dramatically from the 16,921 tallied 10 years earlier.

Having jumped the 20,000 threshold, aldermen could have decided to expand the number of wards to five or seven, with corresponding increases in the size of the council to 10 or 14, respectively.

Although new subdivisions and accompanying population growth occurred south of the Fox River, the increases were even heavier to the north.

The result is that the population levels among the four wards are seriously out of whack and it will be up to the council to bring those numbers back into line.

For some city residents, all of this means they will find themselves in a different ward represented by a different pair of aldermen.

City Administrator Bart Olson outlined the population changes that need to be made in a memo to the council.

Dividing the city’s population by four means that each ward should have about 5,383 residents.

The generally accepted legal tolerance for population differences is 10%, Olson explained, so the goal will be to redraw the boundaries include between 5,113 and 5,652 residents per ward.

Ward 1 currently has 4,897 residents, but needs to be increased in size from between 216 and 755 residents.

That ward covers much of the south side of the city and includes Greenbriar, Sunflower Estates, Fountain Village, Fountain View, Wildwood, Country Hills and Raintree Village.

Ward 2 is now home to 4,441 residents and will need to increase in size between a range of 672 to 1,211.

The only ward with territory on both sides of the Fox River, Ward 2 covers much of the area between Route 34 and the river, including Yorkville Marketplace and Heartland Circle. The ward also includes the historic downtown, River’s Edge and White Oak Estates, extending to the southwest.

Ward 3 now stands at 5,867 residents, but that’s too many. Its size needs to be reduced by between 215 and 754 residents.

Covering the northwest and far north sides of the community, Ward 3 includes Cimarron Ridge, Blackberry Woods, Fox Hill, Cannonball Estates, Whispering Meadows and Bristol Bay.

Ward 4 currently has 6,328 residents and its population also will beed to be decreased, in this case between 676 and 1,215.

This ward covers the northeast side of the city, including Prairie Meadows, Autumn Creek and Grande Reserve, where some of the heaviest residential development has been taking place.

“We propose to have the staff prepare a few different ward map boundaries for the city council’s consideration, with feedback to be given and an eventual vote required by Aug. 16,” Olson said.

The city administrator explained that the filing period for the spring 2023 municipal elections is expected to be in December of this year, with candidates able to circulate nominating petitions in September.

The new ward map must be approved 30 days before the start of the nominating petition process, Olson said.

Although no public hearing will be required prior to the council’s approval of the map, aldermen have already signaled that they intend to hold one.