Politics & Government

House Redistricting Plan Would Splinter Lakeville into More Legislative Districts

Republican-led plan aims to reconfigure boundaries so population in each of Minnesota's 134 House and 67 Senate Districts is the same.

Lakeville could be splintered into four House districts and three Senate districts if a Republican-led redistricting plan passes the House.

On Monday, State Rep. Sarah Anderson (R-District 43A) of Plymouth, released her plan, HF0978, to redraw the state's legislative boundaries, an exercise that occurs every decade after .

But under the House plan, Lakeville’s legislative makeup would be altered significantly, with parts of the city being chopped off and added to other districts.

Find out what's happening in Lakevillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

All of Lakeville’s residents are currently part of District 36 and represented by State Rep. Mary Liz Holberg (R-District 36A) of Lakeville, State Rep. Pat Garofalo (R-District 36A) of Farmington, and State Sen. Dave Thompson (R-District 36) of Lakeville.

And while the new plan calls for those districts to remain, just under different numbers—it would be come Senate District 54 with House District 54A and 54B—their boundaries would be chopped and trimmed, leaving large parts of northern Lakeville with new legislators.

Find out what's happening in Lakevillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The plan calls for a new House and Senate district to be created in Lakeville and Burnsville. Senate District 55 would represent most of Burnsville, but also much of Lakeville’s Interstate 35 uptown area, including all of Argonne. The boundary would dive south along Kenwood Trail to 185th Street West, then move east to Ipava Avenue and continue northeast, around Crystal Lake Gold Club until reaching County Road 46. This area would also fall under newly formed House District 55A.

But that’s not the only change. To the northeast, the entire chunk of Lakeville’s Pilot Knob Road neighborhoods would be redrawn into Senate District 57 and House District 57A, which is now district 37 and 37A, and represented by State Sen. Chris Gerlach (R-District 37) of Apple Valley, and State Rep. Tara Mack (R-District 37A) of Apple Valley.

The new boundary would lump the residents around Pilot Knob from Flagstaff Avenue to the west and 18oth Street West, to the south, into the district.

Boundaries are drawn to place roughly the same number of people in each of the 134 House districts and 67 Senate districts, and Lakeville’s division is a result of its huge population growth since 2000—jumping 30 percent, or 12,826 residents.

The House Redistricting Committee will discuss and likely move the proposal out of committee Tuesday night. The House would then have to approve the plan and pair it with a Senate plan, which has not been released yet.

If Gov. Mark Dayton vetoes the maps, the courts will redraw the lines after Feb. 21, 2012.

The current plan has 20 House members and their districts being merged. That would mean 10 House representatives would lose seats. Five of those match-ups are between two Democratic representatives, four match-ups feature a Democrat and a Republican and just one match-up is between two Republicans.

See which proposed district you'll be in.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from Lakeville