[Durham INC] Zoning protest petitions Under threat Again!

[Tom Miller]

Dear Neighborhood advocates:

 

The new long session of the North Carolina General Assembly started last
week and on the very first day I was notified by a sympathetic legislator
that we may expect another bill to repeal a neighbor's time-honored right to
oppose a rezoning with an official protest petition.  

 

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 politically-motivated  zone changes.  When neighbors file a
protest petition it is a signal that the proposed rezoning deserves special
scrutiny by elected officials.  Remarkably few protest petitions are filed
each year and even fewer prevent proposed rezonings from  being approved.
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 attorneys 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 remains part of zoning laws all across the county.

 

During the last two sessions of the General Assembly, real estate
development interests have pressured legislators to repeal the protest
petition right in North Carolina.  Bills ending protest petitions have
almost passed but at the last minute the right was restored before the final
legislation was adopted.  Each year, e-mail messages to legislators from
people like you helped turn the tide.

 

A Possible Compromise

 

We have now been told we may expect another bill to repeal North Carolina
citizens' the right to file a protest petition.  I have also been informed
that there is interest among some legislators, both Republican and Democrat,
in changing the protest petition law instead of repealing it.  As proposed,
the changed law would raise the threshold for signing from 5% of the owners
of the 100 foot-deep ring of property to 25%.  It would also reduce the
supermajority required to pass a protested rezoning from three quarters of
the city council to a vote of two-thirds.  I believe we, as neighborhood
advocates, should seriously consider this proposal.  A compromise would save
the protest petition right and, if the development stakeholders agree to it,
put this issue to bed.  However, I am concerned that the proposes 25%
signing requirement is too high.  Raising the signing threshold from 5% to
25% would make obtaining a valid protest petition very difficult if not
impossible in most cases.  In my own experience, obtaining the signatures of
owners of 10% of the property is hard.  Obtaining 20% is often impossible,
but can happen.

 

What You Can Do

 

1)            Contact the members of your city's legislative delegation and
ask them to protect the zoning protest petition right.  Write each member a
short, polite, but unequivocal message in your own words that you want the
protest petition right to be protected.  You can find the e-mail addresses
of your state senators and representatives at the General Assembly's
website,  <http://www.ncleg.net> www.ncleg.net.   In the top right-hand
corner of the homepage you will see a box that says "View member info."  Use
that button to find the e-mail addresses of the members of your city's
delegation in both chambers.  You may also use the "who represents me"
button to identify your city's legislators district by district.

 

2)            Forward this e-mail to other neighborhood advocates in your
community.  Post it on neighborhood listserves.

 

3)            Let me know how you feel about the proposed compromise.  

 

For the last two years in a row, your voices have saved the right of an
ordinary citizen to file a protest petition.  We need to redouble our
efforts now.

 

Thank you for your patience with this lengthy message.  Our rights are
important and I want to make sure that everyone has a clear understanding of
the issues at stake.  I will do my best to keep everyone informed.

 

Tom Miller

Durham

 

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