News-Record.com

The House Judiciary I committee approved a bill this morning that would restore protest petition rights to Greensboro residents.

“This is a very popular issue back home,” Rep. Maggie Jeffus, a Greensboro Democrat, to the committee. “The citizens of Greensboro want this right restored.”

The measure, House Bill 64, next goes the House floor for approval. If it passes the full House, it would then be heard in the Senate.

When a land owner wants to change how their property is used – from a home to a business for example – they often have to seek rezoning. In most cities across the state, if five percent of the neighbors within 100 feet of the property oppose that change, they can file a protest petition with the city.

That petition requires that the City Council vote by a supermajority – seven of nine council members must approve in Greensboro’s case – to rezone the property, rather than just a simple majority.

Although some members of the committee said that the state might want to look at raising the threshold for filing protest petitions statewide, they agreed that Greensboro should not be treated differently.

A vote in the full House will likely come next week.

More background: here.

Update: Rep. Paul "Skip" Stam, a Republican and the House minority leader, was the only member of the committee to raise a concern about the bill.

He said it was "anti-democratic" because a protest petition could thwart the will of a majority of a council. If six members out of nine want to approve a rezoning, goes his logic, why shouldn't that change take hold.

Rep. John Blust, a Greensboro Republican, supported the bill but said the five percent threshold should maybe be raised. Five percent, he said, may be too low. But he added quickly that Greensboro should not be singled out.

"I do think it's important to have citizens treated equally across the state," Blust said.