[Durham INC] Protest Petition Bill Update

Thu Aug 14 23:42:21 EDT 2014

Dear Neighbors:

I have been informed tonight that Senate Bill 734, the bill which would
repeal the right to file a protest petition, will come up for consideration
tomorrow, Friday the 15th.  The bill has been in conference committee and I
do not know what changes the conferees may have made.  My sources have not
seen a draft.  I know that I am not giving you much time, but if you can
fire off your last e-mails to your legislators, please do so right away.
Tomorrow's sessions in both the house and the senate begin at 10 a.m.  The
info on how to contact your senators and representatives are in the e-mail I
sent you Wednesday.  It is below.

Thanks for this one last push.

Tom Miller

Durham

From: Tom Miller [mailto:tom-miller1 at nc.rr.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, August 13, 2014 11:01 AM
To: 'inc listserv'
Cc: 'acole at cityofec.com'; 'anthony.mcleod at gmail.com'; 'ardmore at ardmore.ws';
'asurratt at hickorync.gov'; 'authdv at aol.com'; 'befree007 at gmail.com';
'beth.haenni at gmail.com'; 'betseybaun at hotmail.com'; 'bfrazier at hickorync.gov';
'bill.bailey at townofboone.net'; 'blackstockl at bellsouth.net';
'board at AshevilleCAN.org'; 'bradamj at gmail.com'
Subject: RE: Protest Petition Bill Update

Dear Neighbors:

In my last message to you two weeks ago, I told you that I thought that
Senate Bill 734, the bill which would repeal our Zoning protest petition
right, would come up for final treatment in the General Assembly within a
day or two - before I could give you another update.  House and Senate
leaders had announced a compromise on the budget and a strong desire to
bring the session to a close.

Well, I was wrong.  The General Assembly did adopt a budget, but they did
not adjourn the session.  Instead, each house has put forward an adjournment
resolution that contemplates that the session will continue and that the
members will return to Raleigh on at least two occasions possibly to deal
with a long list of unfinished business.  Included on the list are bills
that address regulatory matters.  Senate Bill 734 is such a bill.  It deals
with a host of regulatory issues in addition to the repeal of the protest
petition right.  I am told that because of this, nearly everybody on both
sides of the aisle dislikes something about the bill.  I told you in my last
message that the Senate declined to concur with the bill when it was
returned to them with all of the amendments that were loaded on to it by the
House.  One of these amendments was the provision to take away our
time-honored right to file a protest petition in a zoning case.  The bill
was then sent to conferees to sort out the differences.  The conferees have
been appointed, but as far as I know, they have made no report on the bill.
The House conferees are Rep. Tim D. Moffitt (Buncombe), Rep. Tom Murry
(Wake), Rep. Ruth Samuelson (Mecklenburg), and Rep. Paul Tine (Dare).  The
Senate conferees are Sen. Trudy Wade (Guilford), Sen. Tom Apodaca (Henderson
Co.), and Sen. Harry Brown (Onslow).

It is my understanding that the General Assembly will reconvene today,
August 13, and tomorrow, August 14, for a brief session.  The legislative
website lists no bills or business to be taken up, so I cannot tell you
whether Senate Bill 734 will be on the agenda.  I am also informed that
without regard to what business the General Assembly may accomplish this
week, they plan to return to Raleigh after the November elections to address
more unfinished business.

My friends, you have been patient with my messages and you have responded
over and over to my requests for action.  I know I risk wearing out my
welcome if I ask you once more to remind your city's legislative delegation
that you want them to preserve, not repeal, a neighbor's right to file a
protest petition in a zoning case.  The right is necessary for balance in
the process.  It protects people's investments  of life and treasure in
their property.  It alerts local decision makers that certain zoning cases
are controversial and deserve close scrutiny.

You may find your legislators' contact information at www.ncleg.net.  Use
the "View Member Info" button to get e-mail links to the members you wish to
contact.  Use the "Who Represents Me?" button to identify all of the members
of the delegation that represents your town or city in the General Assembly.
Write a short, clear, polite e-mail to all the senators and house members
from your city or town - even if you do not live in their district.  Send
your e-mails to the House and Senate conferees, too.

Keep up the good work.

Tom Miller 

Durham

From: Tom Miller [mailto:tom-miller1 at nc.rr.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2014 8:45 PM
To: 'Tom Miller'; 'inc listserv'
Cc: 'acole at cityofec.com'; 'anthony.mcleod at gmail.com'; 'ardmore at ardmore.ws';
'asurratt at hickorync.gov'; 'authdv at aol.com'; 'befree007 at gmail.com';
'beth.haenni at gmail.com'; 'betseybaun at hotmail.com'; 'bfrazier at hickorync.gov';
'bill.bailey at townofboone.net'; 'blackstockl at bellsouth.net';
'board at AshevilleCAN.org'; 'bradamj at gmail.com'
Subject: Protest Petition Bill on the Move Again - Last Chance to Act

Dear neighbors:

This may be the last in my reports to you concerning the attempt to repeal
the zoning protest petition right.  I appreciate your interest and support.

As you know, the repeal of the time-honored right of neighbors to file a
formal protest petition in a municipal rezoning case is contained in Senate
Bill 734, a regulatory reform bill that contains a lot of regulatory
measures on a host of topics.  The bill started in the N. C. Senate as an
agricultural measure, but the house loaded it up with other provisions -
including the repeal of the zoning protest right.  The bill, as amended, was
then passed by the house and sent back to the senate for concurrence.
Concurrence is an up-or-down vote by the chamber of origin for bills which
have been amended in the other chamber.  Bills up for concurrence cannot be
amended.  Senate Bill 734 was referred to the Senate Committee on Ways and
Means and was held there for weeks while the house and senate negotiated
over the2014 budget.  This sort of holding and waiting is customary.  Once
the budget is worked out, the held bills either die in committee or come out
in a flurry of pre-adjournment activity.

Today, Senate Bill 734 came out of committee and was sent to the senate
floor for concurrence.  It failed in a vote of 0 to 45.  It was the
re-referred to the senate rules committee to wait while conferees were
appointed.  Once that was accomplished, the bill was withdrawn from
committee.  I cannot say what it is in the bill that has caused the senate
to want to confer with the house on the bill.  I would like to think that
whatever the issues are that divide the chambers, the issue of the repeal of
the zoning protest right is among them.  Whatever the issues may be, they
will be resolved quick - faster than I can digest them and report to you.  

This then, is probably our last chance to ask the house and the senate to
save the protest petition right.  Today, right now, please ask your
communities' senators and representatives to save the right to file a zoning
protest petition.  The senate conferees are Senators Trudy Wade,  Tom
Apodaca, and Harry Brown.  I do not know who the house will appoint.  When
you contact your senators and house members, ask them to ask their
conference committee members on this bill to protect your time-honored right
to file a zoning protest petition.  Also send an e-mail directly to the
senate conferees.  Your messages should be short, polite, and unequivocal.
It would not hurt to send Gov. McCrory an e-mail too.  As the former mayor
of Charlotte, he knows how important the right to file a protest petition
can be to ordinary citizens.

To find your senators' and representatives' e-mail addresses, visit
www.ncleg.net.  In the upper right-hand corner of the screen you will see a
box labelled "VIEW MEMBER INFO."  The down arrow there will list all the
members of both chambers.  To e-mail the governor, visit
http://www.governor.state.nc.us/.  Follow the instructions there to "Contact
Pat."

Once again, I thank all of you for your patience and perseverance.

Tom Miller

Durham

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