[Durham INC] zoning protest petition update

[Tom Miller]

Dear neighbors:

 

I just sent this update out to neighborhood groups across the state:

 

Dear Neighbors Across North Carolina:

 

Senate Bill 112, the bill that would abolish zoning protest petitions, was
scheduled for a "concurrence" vote in the NC Senate today, but was referred
to the senate Committee on Rules instead.  This gives us more time to
communicate with our senators about saving the right to file a protest
petition.  This is an opportunity we cannot waste.  So, if you haven't sent
an e-mail to your state senators, please do so right away.  Don't write just
to your  senator, communicate with all of the senators in your community's
legislative delegation.  While you are at it, tell your house members you
oppose the bill as well.  If we make progress in the senate, the bill will
have to go back to the house for final approval.

 

A number of you have asked for more information on where we stand
procedurally.  The bill began as a regulatory reform bill in the senate.
When it passed the senate it was concerned mostly with the functions of
state regulatory agencies, especially those with environmental protection
responsibilities.  When the bill was taken up by the house last week, many
provisions were added, and many of those reached down to the local
government level.  One of the added measures was the abolition of zoning
protest provisions.  Others include expanded rights for billboard companies
to improve and update existing billboards.  The bill was amended in
committee and passed on the house floor all within a matter of days with
very little debate in committee or on the house floor.  The bill, now
essentially a house bill with a senate number, went back to the senate for
"concurrence."  This is an up or down vote the house of origin gives a bill
which has been returned to it with changes by the other house.  When a bill
is up for a concurrence vote, it cannot be amended on the floor.

 

No concurrence vote happened today.  Instead, the bill was referred to the
senate rules committee.  This could mean any of several things.  A bill is
sent to the rules committee when the leadership of a particular chamber has
a problem with the bill and wants to hold it until those problems can be
discussed behind the scenes with the leadership of the other house.  Another
reason to refer a bill to rules is to hold the legislation hostage to make
sure that a favored bill awaiting consideration in the other chamber gets
favorable treatment.  Sometimes a bill is held in the rules committee to
give party leaders time to instruct their caucus members on how to vote.  In
the case of S. B. 112, I suspect that all of these reasons may be at work in
the decision to refer the bill to rules.  What is certain, however, is that
the much of what is in the bill is important to the current leadership of
both chambers.  It is unlikely that the whole bill will be voted down.  It
is possible, still, to change it.

 

Our job, then, is to make individual senators aware that the move to abolish
zoning protest petitions is unpopular with ordinary citizens across the
state.  We must use this opportunity to ask them to save protest petitions
as a time-honored right of ordinary stakeholders in important zoning
decisions that affect our homes, quality of life, and property values.

 

So please, send that short, polite e-mail message to your community's state
senators that we have talked about for the last few days.  Please spread the
word in your neighborhood and in your communities.  It's not too late.

 

Thank you all.  Together we can make a difference.

 

Tom Miller

Durham

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