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Evelyn Greer: Vote NO
After weighing the pros and cons of the proposed Charter amendment, I will vote No.
I was a leader of Pinecrest’s incorporation as a city and served as the first Mayor from 1996-2004. The Citizens Charter Committee specifically included in the Charter the right of every resident to challenge Village Council decisions by petitioning for a referendum. Since incorporation in 1996, every resident has had the right to challenge every zoning change thru a referendum process, exactly as residents have done by initiating this referendum.
This amendment does not add new rights, it only adds bureaucratic hassles and delays.
See, pinecrestfriends.com for more information.
The proposed Charter Amendment will require that every Zoning and Land Development Regulation change must be approved by a 60% city-wide vote. LDRs govern every use of every property – big issues like land uses (residential versus commercial) and homeowner issues like house party rentals, setbacks, tree removal mitigation, flood zone criteria, etc.
The Charter Amendment is a fundamental change and imposes huge burdens on homeowners seeking minor adjustments, while shifting the power over zoning to property owners willing to spend big money to influence and ultimately control small turnout elections.
The current system worked well in the recent public process over density on US 1. One County Commissioner wanted more density on US 1 to feed Metrorail and proposed a County ordinance to rezone in cities regardless of the Village zoning code. In response, the Village Council strongly opposed the draft proposal and rallied other cities, which caused the Commissioner to exclude cities from his draft proposal. Then the Council engaged in a public process with meetings and discussion, the public expressed strong opinions, which they have throughout Pinecrest’s history, the Council listened because they are elected volunteers who live in Pinecrest, and the Council voted No Change. The process worked as it should work, and everything was public, open and vigorous. Let’s not change what works.
Almost all LDR (zoning) changes in Pinecrest are requested by homeowners facing a specific problem – in 2022 this meant changing the definition of Family in order to regulate frat houses and sober homes, changing the definition of grass to allow artificial grass on sports fields and changing the definition of pervious to include natural ponds and lakes. This is the day-to-day functioning of the Village in response to resident requests and not issues that require citywide elections. Under the Charter Amendment, all these changes will go to a citywide election.
LDR changes are a routine part of Village life; the required notice is given to neighbors who can attend a PUBLIC meeting to express any concerns, the staff reviews the request and makes a recommendation to the Council and a vote is taken by Councilmembers in two separate Council meetings. There is a PUBLIC process, not a election influenced by property owners with financial interest willing to spend the time and money it takes to win.
Today, elected unpaid Pinecrest Council members face significant penalties if they act unethically in dealing with zoning – they must meet at public meetings, report all private meetings, contributions and conflicts of interest on any zoning matter. The process is transparent and public. Under the proposed petition, property owners, residential and commercial, may initiate a binding vote thru an election, the elected Council is irrelevant, the staff review is irrelevant, and anyone can run campaigns to influence the vote with limited public disclosure. Few people are willing to run opposition campaigns again and again, raise money again and again, walk door to door again and again, but commercial interests can do this. After a while, with the typical low voter turnouts, a small group will control the vote by turning out their members, have the ability to bargain with developers for their support (see, Palmetto Golf Course alleged secret payments to certain homeowners) and become the new deciders of zoning changes – all out of public view.
Our process is open and transparent and this amendment does nothing to improve the system. Please Vote No.
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