George Hess: A bad rezoning bill

Regarding the July 2 news article “Senate ready to nix ‘protest’ petitions”: House Bill 201 to eliminate protest petitions in rezoning cases, and the consequent supermajority vote requirement, passed the House and is moving through the Senate. This is a step in the wrong direction.

Supermajority votes are one of the checks and balances required in instances where change is proposed to the fundamental fabric of society – think Constitution – and to prevent tyranny of the majority and suppression of minority groups.

Because zoning defines in part the physical fabric of a community and has a particularly significant effect on the minority of the population living adjacent to property proposed for change, rezoning should be subject to extraordinary care.

People who do their homework before buying a home consider surrounding land uses and zoning and make their decisions based in part on those factors.

Imagine being one of a handful of people living next to land zoned as open space and awakening one day to find it being rezoned to accommodate high-density development, because lots of other people think that’s a good idea. (This is not hypothetical; it happened to me and my neighbors.)

Zoning should matter, and all rezoning should require supermajority or unanimous approval.

This story was originally published July 3, 2015 at 2:00 PM with the headline "George Hess: A bad rezoning bill."