Dozens of residents attended a joint meeting of the Raleigh City Council and Planning Commission Tuesday night to fight a proposed watershed ordinance change that opponents say would infringe on private property rights in the name of environmental conservation.
The proposal would zone approximately 5,000 acres in North Raleigh as a watershed protection area overlay district in hopes of preserving a potential source for drinking water. The zoning change is designed to comply with a law approved by the N.C. General Assembly that limits what residents living in a watershed can do with their property.
Raleigh is required by state law to adopt the watershed ordinances or face possible fines, according to documents available at the public hearing. The city had delayed implementing the ordinances for more than two years while unsuccessfully pursuing appeals to the state’s Environmental Management Commission and through the courts.
Nearly all residents at the public hearing, however, had little patience with the city’s efforts. Michael Munn, a resident of the Woodspring subdivision who attended the hearing on behalf of his homeowner’s association, took council members to task for waiting until two weeks before yesterday’s public hearing to notify homeowners of the proposed ordinance change.
“Homes are typically the largest investment that an individual will make,” Munn said, “and it will be damaging to impose on our property rights and encumber our properties with unnecessary restrictions which have a negative impact on our ability to construct improvements to our property and affect our potential resale value because of a confusing zoning overlay district.”
Another resident, Donald Reel, asked city council members to consider the impact the zoning ordinance would have on home values. Reel said the proposal’s negative impact would far outweigh any benefits.
“This proposal would put an encumbrance on my property and the property of others, and would severely impact our ability to sell our homes when other neighborhoods simply do not have this encumbrance,” Reel said.
Only a handful of residents addressed council members directly, but two-thirds of those seated in the council chambers stood when Mayor Charles Meeker asked those opposed to the zoning ordinance to rise.
Only one resident, a representative of a local environmental group, spoke in favor of the zoning change, saying that protecting water quality means homeowners must give “something up for the good of all.”
Raleigh public officials are currently in the process of updating the city’s comprehensive plan, which is an official policy statement providing a framework for land use, urban design, transportation structure, and environmental sustainability. A final draft plan will be completed by early 2009.
David N. Bass is associate editor of Carolina Journal.