Where are you in the proposed new Lake County Board map? Take a look.
A newly proposed 19-member Lake County Board district map is available for public input and review online through Nov. 24.
The map at lakecountyil.gov/reapportionmentmap is interactive and allows visitors to zoom on specific areas. The site also includes information on how the map was developed.
Input also can be left by calling (847) 377-2550.
"We invite and encourage and request public comment," said Lake County Board Chair Sandy Hart, who leads the board's remap committee.
Large hard copies of the proposed map also can be viewed at the Lake County building, 18 N. County St., Waukegan; Central Permit Facility, 500 W. Winchester Road, Libertyville; and Lake County Forest Preserve District office, 1899 W. Winchester Road, Libertyville.
Counties are required by state law every 10 years to redraw board districts to be "substantially equal" in population based on census data. County board members double as Lake County Forest Preserve District commissioners, so the new map would apply to that body as well.
A seven-member reapportionment committee was created in February and has met six times, most recently Wednesday, when the new map was approved for public viewing.
The county board in October agreed to reduce the number of districts from 21 to 19. That will slightly increase minority representation, effective for the 2022 elections. The federal Voting Rights Act requires areas with a 50% minority population be kept together. Four districts in the new map meet that criteria.
Hart said public information and input have been emphasized in the process. In May, four virtual public listening sessions, each for a separate quadrant of the county, were held. Five meetings also were held with interested groups, she added.
Committee member Michael Danforth of Fox River Grove was the sole dissenter in the 6-1 vote to release the new map. He said changes were made to the map without full committee review.
Hart said the map being released for viewing wasn't for individual county board members.
"To me, the priority was really putting something together for the public to see," she said.
"Our job was to create legal and constitutionally appropriate map and that's what we've done. Certainly, there is no perfect map."
Among the proposed map's critics is North Barrington Village President Eleanor Sweet McDonnell, who told the committee she is "shocked and dismayed" by her community would be split into two districts in the remap.
"We care about all the communities around us," she said. "We need to be put back with our sister communities."
The proposed map would split 16 communities, compared to 19 in 2011, Hart said.
Comments received through Nov. 24 will be considered at the next remap committee meeting, Nov. 30. The full county board must approve a new map no later than Dec. 31.