Published: 10/26/2021 9:11:15 AM
Modified: 10/26/2021 9:11:20 AM
WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — The Legislative Apportionment Board’s plan to create one-representative districts for all 150 seats in the Vermont House would — if approved — redraw the map for several towns in the Upper Valley.
For starters, the two-member Windsor 4-2 district that includes the eastern half of Hartford would be split into two districts, with the White River the dividing line for much of the new map, starting at Cascadnac Avenue.
The single-lawmaker Windsor 4-1 district, which includes West Hartford, part of Quechee, Barnard and Pomfret, would remain largely intact.
Just to the north, the four-town Windsor-Orange 2 district, which includes Norwich, Sharon, Thetford and Strafford, would be split in two.
Much of Norwich would be in one district with Sharon, while a portion along Route 5 north of downtown Norwich would be part of a separate district with Thetford and Strafford.
How that would play out with the two incumbent Democrats, state Reps. Jim Masland and Tim Briglin, who both live in Thetford, is unclear.
The two-person, three-town Windsor 1 district would also be split up. The town of Windsor would comprise a district with a chunk of West Windsor roughly south of Route 44, while the rest of West Windsor would be in a district with Hartland.
In the Chelsea area, the six-town Orange 1 district would be carved up, with one seat in heavily Republican Williamstown plus a sliver of Washington, while Chelsea, Vershire, Corinth and the rest of Washington would be in the other seat.
The town of Orange would be added to a district with Newbury and Topsham, which in turn would lose Groton to a Caledonia House district.
And in the Randolph area, which has a two-person district, most of Randolph would be in a single-person district, with the rest of town in another district with Roxbury, Braintree and Brookfield.
But Bethel, which has one lawmaker in a four-town Windsor-Rutland district, would be grafted onto a Windsor-Addison district that extends all the way to Ripton.
State Rep. Kevin Christie, D-White River Junction, who has represented the two-person Hartford district since 2010, said “there will be some local voices involved” before a final map is hammered out.
“That’s the initial proposal,” he said of the LAB’s plan, “and it’s not done until it’s done. This is the first ideation.”
John Gregg can be reached at 603-727-3217 or jgregg@vnews.com.