[Durham INC] Action Alert - Zoning Protest Petition Repeal Bill Filed

[Tom Miller]

Dear Neighbors:

 

Today, House Bill 201 was filed.  If passed, the bill would repeal the
statutory right of a neighbor to file a protest petition against a proposed
rezoning.  Instead, the bill provides that if someone writes to the city
about a rezoning, the city clerk will forward the letter to the city
council.  Yes, I know.  To the sponsors, it seems, a protest petition is
about getting the council's attention.  The sponsors are Representative Stam
of Wake County;  Representative Goodman of Richmond and Scotland Counties;
Representative Jackson of Wake County;  Representative Fraley of Iredell
County;  Representative Hamilton of Brunswick and New Hanover Counties;
Representative Jordan of Ashe and Buncombe Counties; and Representative Wray
of Halifax and North Hampton Counties.

 

The right to file a protest petition against a rezoning is a time honored
right.  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 wrongfully-motivated  zone changes.  When neighbors file a
protest petition it is a signal that the proposed rezoning deserves special
attention by elected officials.  Relatively few protest petitions are filed
and they rarely cause rezonings to be denied.  But 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 country.  

 

For the last three sessions of the North Carolina General Assembly, the
powerful homebuilders' lobby has urged lawmakers to strip the protest
petition right from ordinary North Carolina citizens.  Letters and e-mails
from neighborhood advocates and citizens concerned about keeping a level
playing field in zoning cases have kept repeal provisions from passing.  We
must unite to oppose this effort again this year.

 

Last month I sent some of you a message warning you that this new push to
repeal our rights was coming and now it has arrived.  I also told you that
there was some bi-partisan talk of a compromise bill that would keep the
protest right, but raise the signing threshold from 5% to 20 or 25% and
reduce the supermajority of council votes from 3/4s to 2/3s.  I have heard
nothing more about this possibility.  If I do I will report it to you.

 

What you can do:

 

1)            Contact the members of your city's legislative delegation (not
just your own representative and senator, but all of the legislators
representing your city or town) 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 them to oppose House Bill 201.  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.  These messages really matter.  

 

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

 

"Third Party Rezoning" Restrictions - Last week I wrote to you about another
threat.  It is a bill being put together by the North Carolina Bar
Association to completely rewrite the state's zoning laws.  It contains a
provision that would take away a neighbor's right to file for a rezoning on
an equal basis with a property owner.  Your messages to the Bar Association
and local government officials have brought the offending provision under
scrutiny.  I am waiting to learn whether the Bar Association will drop it
from their bill.  Please keep pursuing this issue as you take the defense of
the protest petition right.

 

If ordinary citizens are not to be squeezed out of local planning and zoning
altogether, we must act together firmly and immediately.  I believe we can
do it.

 

Thanks,

 

Tom Miller

Durham

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