[Durham INC] Zoning Protest Bill Going to Full Senate Tomorrow!

[Tom Miller]

Dear Neighbors:

 

At today's senate commerce committee meeting the committee voted to change
the protest petition repeal bill, House Bill 201, for the worse.  The
committee stripped out the thirty-day notice provision inserted by the house
when the bill was debated in that chamber.  The house's thinking was that if
we are going to take away the neighbors' right to file a protest petition,
the least we can do is give them adequate time to prepare for the hearing in
front of the city council.  Under current law, notice of a rezoning can be
mailed in as little as ten days in advance of the hearing.  Give the post
office two or three days to deliver the letter and it leaves the citizen
with as little as one week to get ready to address a rezoning.  In that time
the citizen must read the code, consult with his neighbors, call the
planning department, figure out what's going on, and prepare his arguments.
The developer who has asked for the rezoning has had all the time in the
world to get ready before he filed.  If this bill is about fairness and
getting citizen input in rezoning cases, then let's give citizens adequate
time to get ready.  The ordinary citizen doesn't know about zoning.  He has
to learn a lot and from scratch.  Seven days to match the developer's
lawyers, engineers, land planners, architects, and lobbyists doesn't seem to
fair.  God help the average citizen who has to get ready for a zoning
hearing and do his day job and take the kids to school, etc.

 

The bill comes up in the full senate tomorrow.  This may the last effective
chance we have to ask our elected representative to preserve the little
guy's right to file a protest petition in a zoning case.  Please send an
e-mail to the whole senate tonight or tomorrow morning.  Ask them to
preserve the protest petition right.  Ask them to restore the thirty-day
minimum notice provision.

 

Here are the e-mail addresses for the whole N.C. Senate.

 

 <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;
<mailto:Chad.Barefoot at ncleg.net> Chad.Barefoot at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Phil.Berger at ncleg.net> Phil.Berger at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Stan.Bingham at ncleg.net> Stan.Bingham at ncleg.net;
<mailto:David.Curtis at ncleg.net> David.Curtis at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Don.Davis at ncleg.net> Don.Davis at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Jim.Davis at ncleg.net> Jim.Davis at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Kathy.Harrington at ncleg.net> Kathy.Harrington at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Fletcher.Hartsell at ncleg.net> Fletcher.Hartsell at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Jeff.Jackson at ncleg.net> Jeff.Jackson at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Ralph.Hise at ncleg.net> Ralph.Hise at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Paul.Lowe at ncleg.net> Paul.Lowe at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Louis.Pate at ncleg.net> Louis.Pate at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Ron.Rabin at ncleg.net> Ron.Rabin at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Shirley.Randleman at ncleg.net> Shirley.Randleman at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Gladys.Robinson at ncleg.net> Gladys.Robinson at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Erica.Smith-Ingram at ncleg.net> Erica.Smith-Ingram at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Jeff.Tarte at ncleg.net> Jeff.Tarte at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Tommy.Tucker at ncleg.net> Tommy.Tucker at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Trudy.Wade at ncleg.net> Trudy.Wade at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Andy.Wells at ncleg.net> Andy.Wells at ncleg.net; Mike.Woodard at ncleg.net

	

I apologize for pelting you with these requests, but I thought you should
know what is happening to your rights.

 

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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