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At its eighth meeting, held Tuesday, November 1, Tompkins County's Independent Redistricting Commission, charged with developing a plan to reapportion Tompkins County legislative districts, reduced its active options at this time to four.

Considering the 16 potential scenarios before it to date-ranging from 13 to 17 legislative districts-the Commission selected for further review two options for a 13-member Legislature, one for a 14-member Legislature, and one that would retain the current Legislature of 15 members. To date, the Commission's review has focused on areas outside of the City of Ithaca.

All 16 scenarios presented - with the four under active consideration noted - may be viewed at the Redistricting Commission's web site (click on "Maps.").

The Commission retained the 15-district alternative as the closest to current legislative district boundaries while meeting most review guidelines set by the Commission, with the exception of keeping villages intact. That 15-district scenario would place a portion of the northeastern section of the Village of Cayuga Heights into the adjacent northeast district in the Town of Ithaca.

The 14-district scenario selected would keep the Villages of Lansing and Cayuga Heights intact within a single district and include an area of common interest on East Shore Drive, with the rest of the county similar to current districts, and would reduce to four each the number of districts in the Town and the City of Ithaca.

The 13-district scenarios would maintain Villages intact and reduce the City of Ithaca to four districts. In one of the options, there would be four Ithaca Town districts, with one reaching a bit into the Town of Dryden in the Ellis Hollow area. The other 13-district alternative would have three Town of Ithaca districts.

When it resumes work November 16, the Commission will start refining the selected maps and begin the process of reviewing the City of Ithaca districts in detail. Although some scenarios have been eliminated at this time, it was noted that the various City of Ithaca districts represented within those maps may be considered.

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