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

Thu Jun 19 13:59:59 EDT 2014

LOL @ Gronberg.....

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-------- Original message --------
From: Ray Gronberg <ray.gronberg at gmail.com> 
Date:06/19/2014  1:45 PM  (GMT-05:00) 
To:  
Cc: inc-list at durhaminc.org 
Subject: Re: [Durham INC] zoning protest petitions under attack! here's the	bill 

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

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