All Seven Wards in Tupelo Will See a Shift in Territory

TUPELO, Miss. (WCBI)-Tupelo’s newly appointed committee will have just one month to study proposed changes to each of Tupelo’s seven wards before the city adopts the new map. By law, Tupelo must redraw its ward lines to incorporate new data from the 2010 census. The census showed a gain of 335 people to the city as well as a shift in its demographics. The city also gained a little over  1,200 new homes as a result of the annexation of six different areas. A few of the proposed changes are: In ward one some of the Joyner neighborhood would move to ward two including Woodlawn, Houston, Maxwell, Calloway, and Fletcher Streets. Ward two will lose an area to Ward four including all or portions of Bella Vista, Nelle, Exchange, Forrest, Stephen D. Lee, and West Main Streets. Ward three will have President Avenue extended and Shell Street would go to Ward seven. Ward four will have all or a portion of Wallace Street, Enterprise Drive, Service Drive, Community Drive, Plant Road and Elizabeth Street would go to Ward three. Some historical residence downtown Tupelo also will move into Ward three. Ward five will have the Mall at Barnes Crossing and much of the North Gloster shopping district move into Ward four. And a southern chunk of the ward will go to Ward three including all or part of Senter Street and Eason Boulevard. Ward six will loose the Windfield subdivision and its surrounding area to Ward two. Ward seven will lose almost no territory. The city must also preserve it’s two minority wards in district four and seven.