[Durham INC] Protest Petition Repeal Bill Moving Again!

Mon Jun 8 10:02:21 EDT 2015

Dear Neighbors:

The Senate Commerce Committee will meet tomorrow, Tuesday, at 11:00 a.m. in
Room 423 of the Legislative Office Building.  The agenda for the meeting has
not been announced.  Because House Bill 201 (discussed below) could come up
at the meeting, please stop what you are doing and communicate with the
committee members.  Let them know we oppose the bill and want our protest
petition rights preserved.

Thank you.  If everyone who receives this message writes to the committee,
we might stop this hateful legislation.

Tom Miller

Durham

From: Tom Miller [mailto:tom-miller1 at nc.rr.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, June 02, 2015 4:25 PM
To: inc-list at lists.deltaforce.net
Subject: Protest Petition Repeal Bill Moving Again!

Dear Neighbors:

House Bill 201, the bill that would repeal our right to file a zoning
protest petition, has been assigned to the Senate Commerce Committee.  The
bill could come up for consideration in the committee as early as Thursday,
June 4.  Please take a moment and write to the members of the committee to
tell them that you oppose House Bill 201 and that you want the committee to
preserve the right to file a protest petition.

House Bill 201 passed the house after considerable debate back in March.  It
was then assigned to the Senate Rules Committee as a holding place while the
senate worked the budget and on other bills which were facing a deadline.
During that time I did not send you messages because I did not want to wear
you out or cause us to peak in our efforts too soon. The legislative
deadlines are past now and the senate is beginning to take up bills it has
received from the house.  It is time for us to act - now, and without delay.

The e-mail addresses of the members of the Senate Commerce Committee are:

 <mailto:John.Alexander at ncleg.net> John.Alexander at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Tom.Apodaca at ncleg.net> Tom.Apodaca at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Dan.Blue at ncleg.net> Dan.Blue at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Andrew.Brock at ncleg.net> Andrew.Brock at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Angela.Bryant at ncleg.net> Angela.Bryant at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Ben.Clark at ncleg.net> Ben.Clark at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Bill.Cook at ncleg.net> Bill.Cook at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Warren.Daniel at ncleg.net> Warren.Daniel at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Joel.Ford at ncleg.net> Joel.Ford at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Valerie.Foushee at ncleg.net> Valerie.Foushee at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Kathy.Harrington at ncleg.net> Kathy.Harrington at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Brent.Jackson at ncleg.net> Brent.Jackson at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Joyce.Krawiec at ncleg.net> Joyce.Krawiec at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Michael.Lee at ncleg.net> Michael.Lee at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Tom.McInnis at ncleg.net> Tom.McInnis at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Floyd.McKissick at ncleg.net> Floyd.McKissick at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Buck.Newton at ncleg.net> Buck.Newton at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Bill.Rabon at ncleg.net> Bill.Rabon at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Bob.Rucho at ncleg.net> Bob.Rucho at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Norman.Sanderson at ncleg.net> Norman.Sanderson at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Jane.Smith at ncleg.net> Jane.Smith at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Dan.Soucek at ncleg.net> Dan.Soucek at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Josh.Stein at ncleg.net> Josh.Stein at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Jerry.Tillman at ncleg.net> Jerry.Tillman at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Joyce.Waddell at ncleg.net> Joyce.Waddell at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Rick.Gunn at ncleg.net> Rick.Gunn at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Wesley.Meredith at ncleg.net> Wesley.Meredith at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Tamara.Barringer at ncleg.net> Tamara.Barringer at ncleg.net;
<mailto:Harry.Brown at ncleg.net> Harry.Brown at ncleg.net

What you can do:

1) Send a short, polite e-mail to the members of the committee telling them
to vote against House Bill 201.  Tell them you want them to preserve the
right to file a protest petition.  I have repeated the argument for protest
petitions below for your reference.  If you use any of the arguments, please
express them in your own words.  You should be able to cut and paste the
addresses above into a single e-mail message.

2) Share this e-mail message with your neighborhood lists and other
neighborhood advocates

3) Let your own state senator know you oppose House Bill 201 if he or she is
not a member of the Senate Commerce Committee.

4) Write to Governor McCrory and let him know you oppose House Bill 201.  To
e-mail the governor, visit http://www.governor.state.nc.us/contact .

Thank you.  Working together we can save our rights.

Tom Miller

Durham

The Argument for Zoning Protest Petitions:

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?

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