[Durham INC] zoning protest petitions under attack! here's the bill

[Ray Gronberg]

You don't need to go to the Greensboro paper to read about news relevant to
Durham.

http://www.heraldsun.com/news/x1625940502/House-again-considering-repeal-of-zoning-protest-rights



On Thu, Jun 19, 2014 at 1:23 PM, Pat Carstensen <pats1717 at hotmail.com>
wrote:

> The Greensboro paper picked up the story:
>
>
> http://www.news-record.com/blogs/killian_lehmert_the_inside_scoop/article_bded1fea-f70e-11e3-8841-0017a43b2370.html
>
> ------------------------------
> From: tom-miller1 at nc.rr.com
> To: inc-list at durhaminc.org
> Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2014 11:57:22 -0400
> Subject: [Durham INC] zoning protest petitions under attack! here's the
> bill
>
>
> Dear neighbors:
>
>
>
> The North Carolina House of Representatives Finance Committee recently
> amended Senate Bill 493 to add sections 2.7 (a) though (d) which would
> repeal the right of neighbors to file a zoning protest petition.  It would
> also prevent cities from taking action on petitions which have been filed.
> This is the measure which we expected back in May when I sent you the
> e-mail message below.  The bill, as amended, has been sent back to the
> House Committee on Regulatory Reform.  If we are to save the time-honored
> and important right of neighbors to protest a rezoning, we must act now.
> Here is what you can do:
>
>
>
> 1)  Please send a short, unequivocal e-mail to all the members of your
> local legislative delegation asking them to save the protest petition right
> by eliminating the repeal provisions from Senate Bill 493.
>
>                 You can find the members’ e-mail addresses at
> www.ncleg.net .  Contact your house and senate members.
>
> 2)  Share this e-mail message with neighborhood advocates in your
> community through their e-mail list serves and facebook pages.
>
> 3)  Let Governor McCrory know that you oppose the repeal of the protest
> petition right by sending him an e-mail at www.governor.state.nc.us.
>
>
>
> If we all work together we can preserve long-standing neighborhood rights,
> but we must act very fast.  It is no accident that the provisions repealing
> protest petition rights were kept out of the bill until the last minute.
>
>
>
> Thanks,
>
>
>
> Tom Miller
>
> Durham
>
>
>
> From May 2014:
>
>
>
> Dear Neighbors:
>
>
>
> Last summer, neighborhoods all across North Carolina were alarmed to learn
> that the General Assembly amended bills in the house and the senate to
> eliminate completely the time-honored right of neighbors living next to
> property being rezoned to file a formal protest petition.  If passed, the
> legislation would have stripped away the only protection afforded ordinary
> people in the planning and zoning process in North Carolina.  Fortunately,
> neighborhood advocates everywhere wrote to their legislators and the
> offending legislation was stopped.
>
>
>
> But the issue has not gone away.  Last month, Thomas Terrell, Jr.,  a
> development attorney with the law firm of Smith Moore Leatherwood, made a
> presentation to the House Committee on Property Owner Protection and Rights
> in which he demanded that protest petitions be eliminated.  The committee
> took no action, but the issue of protest petitions will probably come up
> again when the General Assembly convenes Wednesday for its “short”
> session.  Neighborhoods must remain vigilant.
>
>
>
> The right of a neighboring property owner to protest the proposed rezoning
> of an adjacent property is as old as zoning itself in North Carolina.  The
> 1923 legislation that first authorized NC cities to regulate land use by
> zoning expressly permitted a protest petition.  The petition right is part
> of the concept of zoning, the original balance of competing interests which
> is built into the zoning process.  From the beginning, when neighbors filed
> a valid petition, the rezoning could pass with only a supermajority vote of
> the city council.  Today, a protest petition is valid if it signed by the
> owners of 5% of the band of property 100 feet wide surrounding the property
> to be rezoned.  When a valid petition is filed, the rezoning can be
> approved only with a ¾ majority vote of the city council.  While 5% doesn’t
> sound like much, it is actually a very high bar and the result is that only
> a few valid petitions are filed.  Fewer still actually result in the defeat
> of the proposed rezoning.  It is the existence of the petition right in the
> first place that causes developers to be good neighbors.  When the
> necessary threshold of neighbors actually file a valid petition, it is a
> signal to the city council and the whole community that the proposed
> rezoning is controversial and deserves special scrutiny.  If the protest
> petition right is taken away, the whole zoning process will be
> out-of-balance.  Ordinary people, the very people whose interests in their
> homes are meant to be protected by zoning rules, will lose their only
> leverage in a process that is often stacked against them.  Modern zoning
> regulations are complicated and ordinary people who cannot afford attorneys
> and land planners are alienated from the process.  The last thing the
> legislature should consider is a move that will only increase this
> alienation.
>
>
>
> Here’s what you can do:
>
>
>
> 1)            Write a short, polite, but unequivocal e-mail to your state
> legislators telling them to vote against any bill that tampers with zoning
> protest petitions.  To find your legislators’ e-mail addresses, go to
> www.ncleg.net.
>
> 2)            Alert your neighbors and other neighborhood organizations in
> your community through your listserves, facebook pages, and e-mail contacts.
>
> 3)            Send an e-mail to Governor McCrory and ask his help to
> protect your rights. You can do this by writing to the governor at
> www.governor.state.nc.us.
>
>
>
> Together, we can defend our rights.
>
>
>
> Thanks,
>
>
>
> Tom Miller
>
> Durham
>
> _______________________________________________ Durham INC Mailing List
> list at durham-inc.org http://www.durham-inc.org/list.html
>
> _______________________________________________
> Durham INC Mailing List
> list at durham-inc.org
> http://www.durham-inc.org/list.html
>
>
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