[Durham INC] Zoning Protest Petition Bill to be Heard Tommorow!

[Tom Miller]

Dear Neighbors:

 

This evening at 6 p.m. we received noticed the House Bill 201, the bill to
repeal the right to file a protest petition, will be discussed in the Senate
Commerce Committee tomorrow at 11:00 a.m.  Please send an e-mail message to
the committee members and ask them to  preserve a neighbor's time-honored
right to file a protest petition in a zoning case.  Now is the time.  We may
not get another chance.  The e-mail addresses of the commerce committee
members are:

 

 <mailto:John.Alexander at ncleg.net> John.Alexander at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Tom.Apodaca at ncleg.net> Tom.Apodaca at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Dan.Blue at ncleg.net> Dan.Blue at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Andrew.Brock at ncleg.net> Andrew.Brock at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Angela.Bryant at ncleg.net> Angela.Bryant at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Ben.Clark at ncleg.net> Ben.Clark at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Bill.Cook at ncleg.net> Bill.Cook at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Warren.Daniel at ncleg.net> Warren.Daniel at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Joel.Ford at ncleg.net> Joel.Ford at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Valerie.Foushee at ncleg.net> Valerie.Foushee at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Kathy.Harrington at ncleg.net> Kathy.Harrington at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Brent.Jackson at ncleg.net> Brent.Jackson at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Joyce.Krawiec at ncleg.net> Joyce.Krawiec at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Michael.Lee at ncleg.net> Michael.Lee at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Tom.McInnis at ncleg.net> Tom.McInnis at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Floyd.McKissick at ncleg.net> Floyd.McKissick at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Buck.Newton at ncleg.net> Buck.Newton at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Bill.Rabon at ncleg.net> Bill.Rabon at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Bob.Rucho at ncleg.net> Bob.Rucho at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Norman.Sanderson at ncleg.net> Norman.Sanderson at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Jane.Smith at ncleg.net> Jane.Smith at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Dan.Soucek at ncleg.net> Dan.Soucek at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Josh.Stein at ncleg.net> Josh.Stein at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Jerry.Tillman at ncleg.net> Jerry.Tillman at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Joyce.Waddell at ncleg.net> Joyce.Waddell at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Rick.Gunn at ncleg.net> Rick.Gunn at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Wesley.Meredith at ncleg.net> Wesley.Meredith at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Tamara.Barringer at ncleg.net> Tamara.Barringer at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Harry.Brown at ncleg.net> Harry.Brown at ncleg.net

	

 

In your message you may wish to mention that less than one day's notice
before the committee's meeting on the bill hardly seems fair.  After all,
this is a bill that has received a great deal of citizen interest.  

 

Please make your message short and polite.  If you have already sent a
message, it is OK to send another.

 

Please share this e-mail message with your neighborhood lists and other
media.

 

Thank you.

 

Tom Miller

Durham

 

Again, for your reference, here are some arguments in favor of the zoning
protest petition right:

 

The right to file a protest petition against a rezoning is a time honored
right.  Under NC law, if the owners of 5% of the ring of property 100 feet
deep surrounding land to be rezoned file a formal 

protest petition, it takes a super majority of 3/4s of the members of the
city council to pass the rezoning.  The protest petition right in North
Carolina is as old as zoning itself.  The right was part of the 

legislation passed by the General Assembly in 1923 giving cities the right
to regulate land use by zoning.  A protest petition right protects a
neighbor's investment in his own property and his reasonable expectations in
the stability of the regulatory environment.  It protects neighbors and
property owners from sudden, capricious, and wrongfully-motivated  zone
changes.  When neighbors file a protest petition it is a signal that the
proposed rezoning deserves special attention by elected officials.
Relatively few protest petitions are filed and they rarely cause rezonings
to be denied.  But protest petitions do often lead to more thoughtful
results in zoning cases and better buffering and protections between
incompatible uses.  The protest petition right levels the playing field
between ordinary citizens trying to protect their homes and powerful
developers who can afford attorney, engineers, lobbyists, and land planners
to advance their interests.  The right to a protest petition was part of
model zoning laws promulgated by the US Department of Commerce in the 1920s.
It is part of zoning law all across the country.  Citizens in states
bordering North Carolina have the right to file a protest petition.  Why
shouldn't we?

 

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