[Durham INC] Proptest Petition Bill Update

[Tom Miller]

Dear neighbors:

 

Here is the e-mail I just sent statewide:

 

Dear Neighbors:

 

Last week I wrote to you to inform you about House Bill 201 - the bill
which, if passed, would take away a neighbor's time-honored right to file a
protest petition.  In that e-mail, I laid out the arguments why the protest
petition is so important to a balanced land use regulatory system.  I will
repeat them at the bottom of this e-mail to make it easy to refer to them
again.  The bill has been sent to the House Committee on Local Government
where it will be debated before it moves for final consideration on the
House floor.  We must write to the members of the committee and let them
know we oppose having our rights taken away.

 

Also last week, a number of senators who want to see the protest petition
right saved filed an alternative bill, Senate Bill 285.  This bill offers a
compromise on the protest petition.  I mentioned the possibility of a
compromise in my first post to you in February.  This bill, if passed, would
save the right to file a protest petition, but would raise the signing
threshold and reduce the city council super-majority.  Instead of needing
the signatures of the owners of 5% of the 100 foot-deep ring of neighboring
property, this bill would change the law to require the owners of at least
15% of that ring to make a protest petition valid.  Under SB 285, when a
valid protest petition is filed, it would take a yes vote of two-thirds of
the city council to pass the protested rezoning instead of the three-fourths
vote required today.  If the Homebuilders' Association and other stakeholder
groups who are trying to get the protest petition right repealed are willing
to accept this compromise, we should seriously consider it too.  The
sponsors of Senate Bill 285 are Senators Woodard, Foushee, and McKissick.

 

What we should do now:

 

1)            Share this e-mail with other neighborhood groups and advocates
in your own communities.  Post it on your neighborhood listserves.

 

2)            Write to your city's representatives and senators and tell
them to oppose House Bill 201.  Tell them to consider Senate Bill 285 as a
compromise.  You can find the e-mail addresses of your city's legislators at
the General Assembly 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. 

 

3)            Send a short, polite, e-mail to the members of the House
Committee on Local Government asking them to oppose House Bill 201.  Here
are their addresses:

 

                 <mailto:Ted.Davis at ncleg.net> Ted.Davis at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Carl.Ford at ncleg.net> Carl.Ford at ncleg.net;
<mailto:James.Langdon at ncleg.net> James.Langdon at ncleg.net;
<mailto:John.Ager at ncleg.net> John.Ager at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Jamie.Boles at ncleg.net> Jamie.Boles at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Bill.Brawley at ncleg.net> Bill.Brawley at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Rayne.Brown at ncleg.net> Rayne.Brown at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Justin.Burr at ncleg.net> Justin.Burr at ncleg.net;
<mailto:George.Cleveland at ncleg.net> George.Cleveland at ncleg.net;
<mailto:John.Faircloth at ncleg.net> John.Faircloth at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Jean.Farmer-Butterfield at ncleg.net>
Jean.Farmer-Butterfield at ncleg.net;  <mailto:Susan.Fisher at ncleg.net>
Susan.Fisher at ncleg.net;  <mailto:Elmer.Floyd at ncleg.net>
Elmer.Floyd at ncleg.net;  <mailto:George.Graham at ncleg.net>
George.Graham at ncleg.net;  <mailto:Yvonne.Holley at ncleg.net>
Yvonne.Holley at ncleg.net;  <mailto:Charles.Jeter at ncleg.net>
Charles.Jeter at ncleg.net;  <mailto:Paul.Luebke at ncleg.net>
Paul.Luebke at ncleg.net;  <mailto:Gary.Pendleton at ncleg.net>
Gary.Pendleton at ncleg.net;  <mailto:Stephen.Ross at ncleg.net>
Stephen.Ross at ncleg.net;  <mailto:Mitchell.Setzer at ncleg.net>
Mitchell.Setzer at ncleg.net

                 <mailto:John.Szoka at ncleg.net> John.Szoka at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Harry.Warren at ncleg.net> Harry.Warren at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Sam.Watford at ncleg.net> Sam.Watford at ncleg.net .

 

                Don't delay sending your message to the committee members.
The bill may come before them as early as this week.

 

The Homebuilders' Association's lobbyists have been working for months to
convince legislators to take away our protest petition right.  Only our
direct communications with our elected 

representatives can save our rights.

 

Arguments for the protest petition:

 

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 is part of
zoning law all across the country.  Citizens in states bordering North
Carolina have the right to file a protest petition.  Why shouldn't we?

 

 

Thank you.

 

Tom Miller

Durham

 

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