news-record.com

RALEIGH - The protest petition is back.

Greensboro residents will be able to fight unpopular land-use cases with that tool after a vote in the Senate on Wednesday.

The city lost the right in 1971 and until this week remained the only North Carolina city without it.

Senators restored that right on a pair of voice votes. The House voted Tuesday 116-0 for the bill.

Because the measure affects only one city, it is a "local bill" and does not need to be signed by the governor. Instead, it will go directly to the Secretary of State's office and become law.

"It's a good day for Greensboro neighborhoods," said Sen. Don Vaughan, a Greensboro Democrat and lawyer. "I've represented nine different neighborhoods in the past three years where the protest petition could have been used as a tool. ... I'm glad it's back on the books."

When a property owner wants to change how a piece of property is used - changing from a home to a business, for example - they often have to seek permission from the city in the form of a rezoning.

Protest petitions are a tool for neighbors who object to fight that change. If 5 percent of those who own property within 100 feet of the proposed rezoning object, the City Council must vote by a 75 percent supermajority to grant the change.

In the case of Greensboro, seven of the nine council members would have to vote to change a property's use that had been the subject of a protest petition.

Backers say that as it is used in other cities, the protest petition often is a negotiating tool that prompts property owners and neighbors to work together more closely.

"It seems anticlimactic considering how controversial it was," said Rep. Pricey Harrison, a Greensboro Democrat who was surprised when she heard it had passed so quickly in the Senate.

The issue of whether to ask to have protest petitions rights restored was a hard-fought issue before the City Council this year.

And last year, a similar bill was blocked from going forward because of potential opposition.

Contact Mark Binker at (919) 832-5549 or mark.binker@news-record.com