[Durham INC] protest petitions update

[Tom Miller]

This is what I sent out statewide this a.m.

 

Tom

 

Dear Neighbors:

 

Yesterday I told you that instead of voting on S. B. 112, the bill that the
NC House of Representatives amended to abolish zoning protest petitions, the
North Carolina Senate has created its own version of the bill by amending H.
B. 74.  This bill does not tamper with protest petitions.  This morning the
senate gave its final approval to its version of the bill .  It will now go
to the house.

 

Both versions of the bill contain  a long list of provisions affecting the
way state and local government agencies regulate everything from the
environment to bed and breakfast businesses.  There are differences and the
one of the big ones is the protest petition provision.  I can only think
that the hue and cry raised by neighborhood advocates since last week has
made a difference.  The question now is which version of the regulatory
reform bill will pass and, when it passes, what will it say about zoning
protest petitions?

 

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 enabling 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.

 

So, this weekend, let’s redouble our efforts to let our legislators in both
the house and the senate know how important the preservation of zoning
protest petitions is to us.  Again, here are the three steps you can take:

 

1)      E-mail all the members of the General Assembly from your community,
both in the Senate and the House.  Tell them to save your right to file a
zoning protest petition in whatever version of the regulatory reform bill
they may ultimately pass.  Please do not say “Vote against S. B. 112” or
“Vote for H. B. 74.”  Both bills are loaded with provisions that legislators
and citizens feel passionate about.  We don’t want to get tangled up in the
larger debate.  Also, because the situation is fluid, we don’t know which
bill will start moving or what it may ultimately say.  Our message should be
“Don’t tamper with the right of an ordinary citizen to file a zoning protest
petition.”  You can find your senators’ and representatives’ e-mail
addresses at  <http://www.ncleg.net> www.ncleg.net.

2)      Share this message with other neighborhood advocates in your
community.  Post it on your neighborhood listserves and facebook pages.
Messages form ordinary people at home carry a great deal of weight with
elected officials in Raleigh.  (That is as it should be, right?)

3)      E-mail Governor McCrory.  He was Mayor of Charlotte and has a wealth
of knowledge about the balance of rights that is built into the zoning
process.  While he probably will not veto the final regulatory reform bill,
he should know about our issue.  He may use his influence to remove the
controversial protest petition provisions from the legislation before it
reaches his desk.  You can write the governor at
<http://www.governor.state.nc.us> www.governor.state.nc.us.

 

Thanks to you all.  Together, I believe we will make a difference.

 

Tom Miller

Durham

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://rtpnet.org/pipermail/inc-list/attachments/20130719/b368452a/attachment.html>