Village of North Syracuse v. County Legislature of Onondaga County
| Decision Date | 09 July 1973 |
| Citation | 74 Misc.2d 842,346 N.Y.S.2d 439 |
| Parties | VILLAGE OF NORTH SYRACUSE, Plaintiff-Intervenor, and Ronald Stott et al., Plaintiffs, v. COUNTY LEGISLATURE OF the COUNTY OF ONONDAGA and the County of Onondaga, Defendants. |
| Court | New York Supreme Court |
Bond, Schoeneck & King, Syracuse, for plaintiff-intervenor, Village of North Syracuse.
Oot, Greene, Setright, Hershdorfer & Sharpe, Syracuse, for Ronald Stott, Allen Miller and David Patrie.
Eli Gingold, County Atty., Syracuse, for defendants.
Axenfeld, Webb, Marshall, Bersani & Scolaro, Syracuse, Richard S. Scolaro, Syracuse, of counsel for defendants.
Jules L. Smith, Syracuse, Staff Counsel of the New York Civil Liberties Union Central New York Chapter, for the Leagues of Women Voters, amici curiae.
At the argument of plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment on May 11, 1973, it was stipulated by all parties that the present districting of the County Legislature of Onondaga County was in violation of the New York State and Federal Constitutions and that redistricting was mandated under State and Federal court decisions. Accordingly, the County Legislature was directed to prepare and approve for submission to the Court for its consideration a recommended plan for districting. Subsequently, it was ordered that the County Legislature's plan and any districting maps or proposals being submitted by any of the other parties would be received on or before June 16, 1973. On June 16, 1973 only two plans were submitted, the County Plan approved by the Onondaga County Legislature by Resolution No. 293 on June 15, 1973 and a plan submitted by plaintiff-intervenor, the Village of North Syracuse.
The three individual plaintiffs--Ronald Stott, Allen Miller and David Patrie--have submitted no proposed districting maps. They contend, however, in a brief submitted by their attorneys, that the proposed County Plan is unconstitutional and urge its rejection by the Court and the adoption of a Weighted voting scheme, using the present legislative districts, as a temporary measure for the 1973 elections. The Leagues of Women Voters of the Syracuse Metropolitan area and of Fayetteville and Manlius, amici curiae, have submitted no counter proposals or suggested amendments to the County Plan and have voiced no opposition to any aspect of it. They request in their brief, however, that the Court 'impose the proposed reapportionment (presumably the county plan) plan on an interim basis and require a referendum as to its permanency' in the 1973 general election.
The proposed County Plan, prior to its adoption by the Legislature on June 15, 1973 and after the maps showing the proposed districting were made public, was the subject of a well-publicized formal public hearing held by the Reapportionment Commission of the County of Onondaga on May 22, 1973, at which approximately 30 persons were in attendance.
The County Plan had been prepared prior to the May 22, 1973 public hearing by the Reapportionment Commission (appointed by Resolution No. 282 adopted on June 7, 1971 by the Onondaga County Legislature) after a series of nine meetings held between March 30, 1973 and May 18, 1973.
The Reapportionment Commission meetings were open to the public and were well attended by representatives of various interested groups including, on occasions, plaintiffs. After the May 22, 1973 public hearing, additional meetings of the Reapportionment Commission were held on May 23rd, June 11th and June 12th, 1973. As a result of the hearing and the subsequent Reapportionment Commission meetings various minor alterations were made in the maps as originally presented at the May 22, 1973 public hearing.
At the final Reapportionment Commission meeting held on June 12, 1973, the Commission's plan and the maps, as amended, were unanimously approved for submission to the Onondaga County Legislature. It should be noted that the Reapportionment Commission consisted of five members, including the Onondaga County Commissioner of Elections of the Democrat Party and a Democrat member of the Onondaga County Legislature.
The entire process leading to the formulation and adoption of the County Plan has been the subject of widespread public interest and has consistently received broad newspaper and television coverage due in part, no doubt, to the defeat, at referendum, of the County's prior redistricting plan (also formulated by the Reapportionment Commission) by the narrow margin of 463 votes on March 30, 1973.
The current County Plan now submitted for court approval contains twenty-four legislative districts, the same number as the present legislative plan. Fourteen of the proposed districts are wholly in the towns and outside of the City of Syracuse. Eight are entirely within the city, while two districts are partially in the city and adjoining towns.
The districts outside the city must be created from the county's nineteen towns having populations ranging from Salina with 38,281 and Clay, 36,274, to Spafford with 1148 and Otisco, 1470. The mean district population of the 24-district plan is 19,701. Thus, to achieve anything approaching 'one man-one vote' representation, some towns must necessarily be combined, some divided, and town lines must be intersected. Of the county's smaller towns, ten,--i.e., Lysander, Spafford, Otisco, Marcellus, Skaneateles, Onondaga, Fabius, Pompey, Tully and Elbridge--are included entirely as part of legislative districts with their lines left intact and not intersected, while two--Van Buren and Lafayette--have been divided. The other districts are composed of combinations of parts of the larger towns (i.e. Clay, Cicero, De Witt, Salina, Camillus, Geddes, Manlius). Thus, 10 of the 19 towns remain intact. In cases where districts have been created by combining one or more whole towns with portions of one or more adjacent towns (Districts 1, 6, 11, 12, and 13) the district boundaries The largest district (No. 24, consisting of part of Syracuse and part of Salina) has a population of 20,482 or 3.96% Over the mean district population of 19,701. The population of the smallest district (No. 2, consisting of Lysander and part of Van Buren) is 18,705 or 5.06% Under the mean. Thus, the total deviation from the mean population between the largest and smallest districts is 9.02%. Stated another way, the population variation ratio between the largest and smallest districts is 1.095 to 1. The average percentage variation of the districts, either above or below the mean population, is 2.67%.
coincide, for the most part, with town boundaries. In Districts 7, 8, and 9, where single districts have been created out of parts of large towns (i.e., De Witt, Camillus, and Geddes) town lines constitute a substantial portion of the district boundaries; and even in districts composed of combinations of parts of large towns (4, 5, 10, and 14) and of parts of large towns with adjoining city territory (19 and 24) town lines and the district boundaries coincide in numerous places.
It should also be noted that the proposed County Plan contains one district, the 23rd, which has a non-white population of 52.3%. In including a district fairly designed to permit the election of a representative of Syracuse's non-white population as a member of the County Legislature, the present plan is a substantial improvement over the defeated County Plan which contained no such district. As a result, opposition for failure to provide minority group representation has, apparently, been eliminated. (See minutes Reapportionment Commission meetings, particularly April 12, May 10, 1973) Neither plaintiffs nor amici have suggested that the County Plan is objectionable on this score.
Furthermore, the greater number of districts in the proposed plan (24 as compared to 22 in the defeated County Plan) and the reduced number of districts combining parts of towns with adjacent city territory (two in the present plan as contrasted with four in the defeated plan) have apparently obviated objections from other groups who opposed the prior plan. (See minutes of Reapportionment Commission, particularly April 12 and April 18, 1973).
The plan submitted and urged upon the Court by the Village of North Syracuse is in all respects identical with the County Plan except for the boundaries of Legislative Districts No. 3 and No. 14 which are altered to include the whole of the Village of North Syracuse within District No. 14 and the Brewerton area in District No. 3.
The Village of North Syracuse, it must be remembered, lies in two towns--Clay and Cicero. Under the County Plan for the North Syracuse area the town boundary lines are adhered to--thus placing that portion of North Syracuse which lies in the Town of Clay in District No. 14 and the Cicero portion of the Village in District No. 3. The North Syracuse Plan contains an irregular indentation to the east from the town boundary line for the purpose of including the Cicero part of the Village in District No. 14. To compensate for this additional population in District No. 14 and the resultant population loss in District No. 3, the Brewerton community is shifted from District No. 14 to District No. 3.
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