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Politics & Government

Plan Splits North Druid Hills, Briarcliff into 3 House Districts

Scott Holcomb of Briarcliff would have to run against fellow Democratic Rep. Elena Parent to stay in office.

A draft of new state House districts shows the North Druid Hills and Briarcliff area split among three new districts. 

The north boundary of the seat held by Decatur democrat Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver would move southward, leaving behind Briarcliff Road and Emory. The Medlock area and a few neighborhoods along Lawrenceville Highway would remain in Oliver’s presumptive seat.

A new boundary along Clairmont and Lavista Roads would split Emory and Briarcliff from yet a third district lying between Lavista road and the nearby parallel railroad.

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The draft map is a product of the Georgia Legislative and Congressional Reapportionment Office. Once every ten years, Georgia state lawmakers must redraw district borders based on new U.S. Census numbers and population shifts. The full Georgia General Assembly Is scheduled to start debate on the maps in a special session starting Monday.

The proposed district including Emory, Briarcliff and Kittredge Park would join the population on both sides of I-85 in a new district made in part by merging two Democrat-held seats.

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The homes of both Reps. Elena Parent (D-Doraville) and Democrat Scott Holcomb of Briarcliff are drawn into that new I-85 district.  If the map is approved, they would have to run against each other to keep a seat in the House.

That third district, between Lavista and the railroad, would snake outside of the Perimeter, head due south and end just above I-20. That district is a very new shape, but includes the home of Rep. Michele Henson (D-Stone Mountain).

For the first time in decades, Republicans control Georgia's government during the redrawing process. The GOP denies any gerrymandering and points out that Republicans will lose several safe seats in south Georgia due to shrinking rural populations.

All maps must eventually be approved by the federal government, to make sure they do not disenfranchise minority voters under that Act.

In the Senate, the draft map keeps intact the north Decatur, Emory and Lavista seat held by Sen. Emanuel Jones (D-Atlanta), adding the adjacent areas around the north part of Briarcliff Road.

The Legislature will also redraw U.S. House districts this summer. Georgia will get a fourteenth U.S. Congress member. Census numbers put that seat somewhere in the heavily-GOP counties just north of metro Atlanta.

That draft map is not expected to appear until next week at the earliest. 

In January 2012, the Legislature will take up city, county and board of education districts, as well as the state's utility regulators, the Public Service Commission.

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