One of at least three redistricting plans Indian River county commissioners will consider next week moves the existing boundaries to include the entire barrier island in District 5.
The island currently is split between County Commissioner Laura Moss and Chairman Joe Flescher.
“I’ve got to give them different options, and we’re supposed to follow natural or man-made boundaries,” County Geographic Information System analyst Paige Lester said last week, “so I thought putting the island in one district would be a good idea.”
Actually, it’s a terrific idea.
The 32963 ZIP code is populated by a different demographic than most of the county’s mainland communities. Generally speaking – and, yes, there are exceptions – island residents are more affluent and more seasonal than their neighbors across the bridges.
Unlike those who live west of the Indian River Lagoon, islanders often have different concerns and confront different issues, such as beach renourishment, vacation rentals and hurricane evacuation.
It makes sense that they would be represented by the same county commissioner, who lives in their community and understands their needs, rather than continue to divide the island into two districts.
“Seems logical to me,” said Moss, who represents District 5, which currently includes the island south of State Road 510 – as well as a strip of the mainland east of U.S. 1, south of 45th Street – to the St. Lucie County line.
The redistricting criteria approved by the County Commission last summer requires that the five districts be nearly equal in population; compact rather than sprawling; and contiguous, preserving the core of existing districts and not splitting communities of interest to minimize political influence.
It also requires, as Lester said, that district lines follow major natural or man-made boundaries, such as rivers, bridges and major roadways.
The lagoon, along with the Sebastian Inlet and St. Lucie County line, would appear to satisfy the boundary mandate for including the entire island in the same district.
There aren’t enough island residents, however, to populate an entire district.
According to the recently released Census Bureau numbers, the county’s population grew from 138,028 in 2010 to 159,788 in 2020. Dividing that total into five equal parts, each of the newly drawn districts should have a population of 31,958 – or, the criteria states, be within 3 percent of that figure.
The island population is 16,291.
So even if the new lines put the entire island in District 5, nearly half of the district’s population will come from the Vero mainland, probably across the Barber Bridge to U.S. 1 and south to the county line.
If the County Commission approves the proposal, Chairman Joe Flescher, who represents District 2, likely would pick up the bloc of mainland residents Moss would lose between 45th Street and State Road 60.
But he would lose to Moss the northern tier of the island – everything north of State Road 510 – including Orchid, Windsor and the residential communities in the Wabasso Beach and Ambersand Beach areas.
“It has happened once before,” Flescher said. “At one point, Indian River Shores was part of District 2. Now it’s in District 5. This isn’t a political process. It’s all about balance and fairness.
“We’re not a large county, and we’re not district sensitive,” he added. “Moving the district lines doesn’t in any way change our responsibilities. We run countywide, we’re elected by the entire county and we serve everyone, regardless of district.
“The districts might create the perception that we only work for the people in our district, but that’s not the case.”
Moss went a step further, saying many county residents don’t know what district they’re in – at least partially because the boundaries often zig-zag.
“My experience has been that there’s not a lot of attention paid to districts here,” said Moss, a former Vero Beach City Council member and mayor serving her first term as a county commissioner.
“We’re a small county, so we don’t have the same number of district-specific issues you might see in larger counties,” she added. “Most of the issues we deal with are countywide and impact everyone.
“Sure, there are occasionally some issues that pertain to particular neighborhoods – maybe more on the island – but it’s a relatively small number.”
So why have districts at all?
There’s really only one compelling reason: The districts are supposed to ensure that the entire county is represented.
Certainly, we don’t want all five commissioners, or even a majority of them, coming from Vero Beach or Sebastian or some other part of the county.
But given the makeup of our community – and the differences in the demographics and concerns of county residents who live on the island and mainland – we should have one commissioner who represents all of 32963.
The commissioners can make the numbers work.
There’s no good reason not to.