Bloomfield College and several residents near the school could be switching from Ward 3 to Ward 1 under a new redistricting plan.
The Bloomfield Ward Commission will meet this afternoon to vote on the proposal.
The voting ward boundaries have to be redrawn because of higher population numbers. The township's population, according to the 2010 Census, is 15,306 people in Ward 1; 15,100 people in Ward 2 and 16,909 people in Ward 3. Only Ward 3 is above the population limit for the voting district by 348 people.
Bloomfield Township Clerk Louise Palagano showed a redistricting plan on Tuesday that would move all of the Bloomfield College buildings and a few neighbors into Ward 1. A total of 380 people would be affected on four census tracts.
Palagano said she wanted to try and keep the redistricting map "as compact as possible" and it made sense to redistrict the entire college because it would keep all of the different buildings - dorms, sororities, fraternities - together. Residents who live in the four census tracts will also be able to vote closer to home, Palagano said. The new voting poll would be the Bloomfield Civic Center instead of the Central Firehouse.
Palagano said she mentioned the plan to the township's Democratic and Republican chairmen and they agreed on it. She also double-checked the plan to make sure none of the current township council members and the candidates running in the November election would be affected by the change.
Bloomfield Ward Commissioners Bethany O'Toole, of Cedar Grove, and Lee Fisher, of Newark, praised Palagano for coming up with a well-prepared plan that has the least impact on the community.
The second redistricting meeting will take place at 5:30 p.m. today at the Essex County Hall of Records, 465 Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard, Room 413, Newark.
For more information, call commission secretary Linda von Nessi at (973) 621-5074.