BOSTON - A new redistricting plan released by the state Senate yesterday would move Topsfield from Sen. Bruce Tarr's district to one represented by Sen. Fred Berry, D-Peabody
The move is one of the few changes proposed for the North Shore's Senate districts as part of the statewide plan, which will go to the Senate floor for a vote Thursday.
Sen. Stanley Rosenberg, D-Amherst, the Senate's Redistricting Committee Chairman, initially proposed moving Wenham and Topsfield into Berry's Second Essex District.
Tarr, R-Gloucester, balked at the idea because it would separate Wenham from Hamilton, which shares some public services and a school district with Wenham.
"He fought tooth and nail to keep Wenham in," Rosenberg said.
So Rosenberg said Tarr could keep Wenham in his First Essex and Middlesex district. Tarr still needed to lose something because the 2000 census figures show the population in his district had increased at a faster pace in the past decade than the state average of about 5.3 percent.
Rosenberg said that's why Topsfield still had to go.
Meanwhile, Tarr would gain a small portion of Newburyport, including that city's section of Plum Island. Tarr already represents the rest of the island.
Tarr said he was pleased that at least 95 percent of his 18-community district will remain intact.
"It could have been much, much worse," Tarr said.
He's still disappointed by the potential loss of Topsfield, however.
Tarr said when he met with Rosenberg last week, he told him he wanted both Topsfield and Wenham to stay.
Tarr said he's thinking about filing an amendment that would allow him to keep Topsfield. He realizes he would have to find another community to trade because of his district's population growth.
"We have so much population that we have to lose something," Tarr said. "(But) it's still haunting me that Topsfield has to be taken out."
With the exception of adding Topsfield, Berry's district, which includes Danvers, Peabody, Salem, and Beverly, would remain untouched by Rosenberg's plan.
"I'm very satisfied," said Berry, who added he welcomes the addition of Topsfield. "I'm looking forward to getting to know what's important to them."
Like any piece of legislation, the Senate plan needs to be approved by both chambers. The Senate, however, typically goes along with the House recommendation for it's districts, and the House likewise defers to the upper chamber for the Senate map.
The two chambers have been at odds over how the new borders of the State's congressional districts should be drawn.
The new maps will take effect after the 2002 elections.