Redistricting committee will miss deadline to submit new Brookhaven council district maps

The Brookhaven Town redistricting committee said Tuesday that it would hold no more meetings after reaching an impasse over proposals for new town council district maps.

The eight-member committee had faced a Thursday deadline to recommend a map to the town board, which must adopt new council district lines by Dec. 15.

In a letter read by Town Clerk Donna Lent at a town board meeting Tuesday afternoon, Republican redistricting committee co-chair Ali Nazir said he and Democratic co-chair Rabia Aziz had spoken earlier in the day and agreed that further meetings would be “fruitless.”

“Unfortunately, we were not able to reach a compromise,” Nazir wrote. “As a result, we will be unable to complete our mission and submit a redistricting plan.”

Aziz confirmed to Newsday that the committee had reached an impasse, adding, “At this point I don’t see anything that we [Democrats] could have done.”

The announcement followed an often tense Monday night meeting at which the committee rejected three proposed maps. A Republican map failed 5-3, falling one vote short of the six votes required for approval. Two maps favored by Democrats failed by 3-5 votes.

In each case, the committee’s three Republicans voted together, joined by the panel’s two Conservative Party members. The three Democrats voted together on all three votes.
Reapportionment is required because 2020 federal census data showed the populations of two Brookhaven districts — Council Districts 2 and 6 — are out of balance with the other four. All districts must be within 5% of about 81,000 residents, or about one-sixth of Brookhaven’s total population of 475,000.

Residents and community leaders had complained that the reapportionment process was flawed, citing online maps that were difficult to read and that would divide some hamlets while keeping some minority communities split among three or more districts.

Brookhaven Supervisor Edward P. Romaine said Tuesday that he planned to meet with town council members this week to discuss their districts. Republicans hold a 6-1 town board majority.

The town board set a 5 p.m. public hearing on Sept. 29 to consider reapportionment plans. Romaine said he hoped to have proposed maps ready for public review by next week.

“I don’t anticipate a lot of change,” Romaine said, adding that 13 hamlets currently are split among two or more districts. “I am looking to reduce the amount of splits.”

Democratic Councilman Jonathan Kornreich said he had “confidence that within the timeline we’ll be able to work something out.” He added that the final map should not “dilute” minority votes by splitting communities with majority Black and Latino populations.

By Carl MacGowan

carl.macgowan@newsday.comCarlMacGowan

Carl MacGowan is a Long Island native who covers Brookhaven Town after having previously covered Smithtown, Suffolk County courts and numerous spot news and feature stories over his 20-plus year career at Newsday.