Article VII, Section 5 of the Constitution of Virginia requires county election districts to be compact and contiguous and to provide proportional representation. The local board of supervisors is required to redraw district boundaries every ten years to reflect changes in population that have occurred within the various districts. This process is subject to review and approval by the United States Department of Justice in accordance with the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The Brookland District is highlighted in yellow on this map. The Brookland District encompasses about 10% of the County’s total square mileage but contains more than 21% of its population. More precisely, the district is 28.58 square miles and has more than 67,000 residents.This compares with a countywide square mileage of 244.06 and population of nearly 320,000. It is located in the northwestern area of the County. Its southern boundary is the Richmond City line and its northern boundary is the Chickahominy River.
Henrico County is fortunate to have a superior public school system with neighborhood schools. Nine elementary schools are sited in the Brookland District – Dumbarton, Echo Lake, Glen Allen, Greenwood, Holladay, Johnson, Lakeside, Longan and Trevvette. The district is also home to two middle schools (Hungary Creek and Moody) and two high schools (Glen Allen and Hermitage). Although nearly all children residing in Brookland attend an elementary school in their district, some of our middle school students attend Short Pump Middle School in the Three Chopt District. Also, some of our high school students attend Henrico High School in the Fairfield District, Tucker High School in the Three Chopt District and Freeman High School in the Tuckahoe District.
The Brookland District contains a number of public facilities in addition to schools. The Henrico County Government Center, including administrative offices and courts, are sited in Brookland. The district also has three fire stations (#10 – Horsepen Road, #12 – West End Drive and #15 – Mill Road), a public skate facility (Laurel), three parks (Crump, Dunncroft/Castle Point, and R.F. & P.), three libraries (Glen Allen, Municipal and Dumbarton; which will be replaced by the new Libbie Mill Library in November 2015), and several recreation areas. Two historical buildings owned by the County (Meadow Farm and Walkerton) are located in Brookland along the historic Mountain Road corridor as is the Cultural Arts Center at Glen Allen. The service station at Courtney and Mountain Roads has been restored and the cupola, the only remaining remnant of Forrest Lodge, has been restored and now stands at the corner of Mountain Road and old Washington Highway.