[Durham INC] Update on protest petition legislation

[Ed Harrison]

This is an update on legislation filed regarding protest petition reform (" " in one case), distributed by the NC League of Municipalities. 

The Senate bill is co-sponsored by Senators Mike Woodard, Valerie Foushee (Orange and Chatham), and Floyd McKissick. 

The League's position on this emerged three months ago from the annual legislative conference before each session.  Durham staff in attendance (no Council members), and Chapel Hill elected officials and staff, did not vote to support quite this much revision. 

Tom Miller can supply additional background.

Ed Harrison 

Legislators Introduce Protest Petition Reform Bills
House and Senate members filed differing protest petition bills this week, both of which seek to reform the current law. State law now allows certain property owners to submit a petition in protest of a proposed zoning map amendment. Upon receipt of a complete (or "qualified") petition, a council's vote on the amendment must be a supermajority vote of three-fourths in favor of the rezoning in order for the motion to pass. The tool, first included in N.C. statutes in 1923 before modern means of citizen input such as planning commissions, requires either 20 percent of property owners within the area of the proposed rezoning, or 5 percent of neighboring property owners, to sign the petition in order for the petition to be qualified. League members support reforms to this law that would increase the required property owner participation levels needed for a successful protest petition and would lower the supermajority vote requirement.

The most dramatic of the two introduced reform bills, HB 201 Zoning Changes/Citizen Input, would repeal the existing protest petition process described above. Instead, the "citizen input" device referenced in the bill's title would merely become an obligation for a municipal clerk to transmit any written communications received regarding the proposed rezoning to the elected board, presuming the clerk received those communications two days prior to the vote. Citizens may already send written communications to any elected official without this proposed change. In addition, this bill would change the law for tallying board members' votes, although only for situations involving zoning ordinance changes. Instead of counting unexcused votes as affirmative votes, as current law proscribes, this bill would allow council members to skip these types of votes for any reason without the penalty of having their vote counted as affirmative. This bill now awaits calendaring in the House Committee on Local Government.

Unlike the House bill, the Senate protest petition reform bill, SB 284 Zoning/Protest Petition Changes, would keep the current protest petition tool in place but would change key requirements to make it more difficult for (1) protest petitions to be qualified, and (2) the rezoning to be approved by the governing board. First, the bill would raise the needed percentage of protesting neighboring property owners from 5 percent to 15 percent. Then, it would lower the supermajority vote required in cases of a qualified protest petition from three-fourths to two-thirds. Contact: Erin Wynia


On Mar 13, 2015, at 4:35 PM, Freid, Tobin L. wrote:

> Durham’s Arbor Day Celebration is being rescheduled for this Sunday (March 15) due to the rain we are scheduled to have on Saturday.  We have a whole lot of trees that need to be planted so we are hoping a lot of folks will come out and help. We will also have tree seedlings that you can take home and plant in your own yard.
>  
> The time and location remain the same:  Old West Durham neighborhood – Meet in the parking lot of Greystone Baptist Church (2601 Hillsborough Road). We’ll be there from 1:00-3:00 on sunny SUNDAY!  We will have shovels, gloves, rakes, etc, but feel free to bring your own if you are so inclined.
>  
> Thanks and please spread the word!
>  
> Tobin L. Freid
> Sustainability Manager
> Durham City & County
> (919) 560-7999
> www.GreenerDurham.net
> Please note my new email address: tfreid at dconc.gov
> 
>  
> P Please only print this e-mail when necessary. Thank you for helping Durham be environmentally responsible.
>  
> _______________________________________________
> Durham INC Mailing List
> inc-list at lists.deltaforce.net
> http://lists.deltaforce.net/mailman/listinfo/inc-list

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