North Carolina’s real estate and development industries won a significant victory July 23 when governor Pat McCrory signed legislation HB201, repealing the Protest Petition.
“This is a great victory for development in North Carolina eliminating the requirement of a super majority (75 per cent) of a council/commission vote on rezoning cases,” Richard Beard wrote in a note to NAIOP Triad members. “This unfair legislation gave a very few adjacent property owners (5 per cent) the power to contest rezoning cases and require a vote that is not even applicable for a state constitutional amendment.”
Protest Petitions have been around in North Carolina since zoning began in the 1920’s. This repeal is effective for zoning cases filed after August 1, 2015.
“Representatives of NAIOP Triad actively participated with our friends with the Charlotte and Research Triangle NAIOP Chapters to work towards the repeal of the Protest Petition,” Beard wrote. “This included speaking before legislative committees, individual meetings with key legislators and walking the halls of the General Assembly to hand deliver NAIOP’s position on the matter and requesting support. A special thanks goes out to Toby Burke (NAIOP Senior Director for State & Local Affairs), Joe Padilla (Charlotte REBIC) Chris Thomas (Childress Klein), and Charlie McCurry (NAIOP Triad Legislative Chair) for their leadership in this statewide effort.”