Jun 6

Unless You Stop It - NC Legislation To Affect Zoning. Call Sen Tim Moffitt and Rep Jennifer Balkcom

Senator Tim Moffitt

16 West Jones Street, Rm. 2111

Raleigh, NC 27601

919-733-5745

Tim.Moffitt@ncleg.gov

Representative Jennifer Balkcom

16 West Jones Street, Rm. 2215

Raleigh, NC 27601-1096

919-733-5956

Jennifer.Balkcom@ncleg.gov

From: Jane Bilello

218 Vincent Place

Hendersonville, NC 28739

209 986 3845

jane.bilello@gmail.com

June 1, 2024

Dear Tim,

Hope this finds you well. I came to Raleigh and knocked on your door on Wednesday, May 22, 2024 but you were not there. I was able to meet with Rep Jennifer Balkcom and her Legislative Assistant.

I wanted to talk to you regarding the Only-Citizens Vote Amendment S630 (H1074) and other election integrity bills. There is much that needs to be addressed with our election laws to assure that it is Easy to Vote and Hard to Cheat. An overwhelming majority of Americans – all parties – do not want non-citizens voting. (Please see Resources/NCEIT below.)

Asheville Tea Party serves on the Board of the North Carolina Election Integrity Team (NCEIT), one of 22+ statewide coalitions across the nation whose mission and goals are to restore trust and confidence in our elections. We work directly with The Virginia Institute of Public Policy, Election Integrity Network and WhosCounting.Us. Cleta Mitchell is the inspiration for this national effort that has grown exponentially over the past two years. We have weekly NCEIT State Zoom calls with 100 counties as well as National Zoom Workshops addressing the Eight Lanes of Election Integrity as outlined In the Citizens Guide to Election Integrity. Please feel free to join us. My role in NCEIT is to organize each of the 100 counties in NC with county coordinators and liaisons for the eight lanes.

I also wanted to talk to you about two pieces of legislation you have drafted that would directly affect the wellbeing of Henderson County: S906 and S374 (=H409).

On 5/7/2024, you drafted S906, Hendersonville/Public Enterprises Operation. On 5/8/2024, it was referred to the Senate Rules and Operations Committee where it currently sits.

The face of S906 appears to be a ‘positive’ for Henderson “to forbid the city of Hendersonville to charge higher water rates for people living outside of the city limits.” But, the devil’s in the details!

SECTION 1. G.S. 160A-312 gives the City the authority to operate public enterprises outside of the city. SECTION 2. G.S. 160A-31 gives the city permission to annex (my bold and underline) contiguous areas with owners’ permission. This gives the Henderson County Commissioners’ ‘cover’ and free reign for continued uncontrollable growth in the county which puts major stress on our water resources. It runs the risk of putting residential property at risk of losing their private water rights to alleviate water shortage artificially created by unnecessary laws and poor growth planning. Homeowners could be forced to annex because of water shortages.

Senator Julie Mayfield (Democrat from Buncombe), your co-sponsor of S374, Regulation of Accessory Dwelling Unit, should be quite familiar with the scenario. Portions of Buncombe were without water over Christmas because of water shortages due to uncontrollable growth. Is this what is in store for Henderson?

Unfortunately, two Henderson County Commissioners were unelected in the past primary because they didn’t listen to residence of Henderson. We want zoning strictly enforced to protect private property. We do not want the City infringing their will upon the County. We want the building of the substandard housing (tenements, where I come from) to stop. We wonder if these bills are the reason our pleas fell on deaf ears since the Commissioners didn’t listen to us for the past two years: S906, Hendersonville/Public Enterprises Operation, and S374, Regulation of Accessory Dwelling Units? Did they realize these bills were coming so they could go forward to turn Henderson into urban sprawl and then hide behind state laws? Please help us to stop this.

While the headlines Moffitt's bill forbids Hendersonville to charge higher water rates outside city limits looks great to progressives, WE know that this puts our right to private property in jeopardy, the cornerstone of our Republic. Story by Dean Hensley, Hendersonville Times-News

S374, Regulation of Accessory Dwelling Units that has been referred to the Senate Committee On Rules and Operations of the Senate on 3/28/2023. You and Senate Democrat Caucus Secretary, Julie Mayfield of Buncombe, were primary sponsors. The bill had a companion bill in the House, H409 where Rep Jennifer Balkcom co-sponsored. Although these bills have been in Rules for over a year without movement, it is no less troubling since the regulations, if passed, would have a detrimental effect on Henderson County’s residents to control zoning in their neighborhoods and would give our Commissioners free reign to continue the urban sprawl. This bill jeopardizes property values, county sovereignty, and the investment in the quality of life we chose.

Again, the Henderson County Commissioners did not listen to the concerns of the residents and hence, were unelected because of the reckless 2045 Plan – a free for all zoning plan that allowed the City to annex county areas. Covenants in residential neighborhoods as stated in line 35: ‘Nothing in this section shall affect the validity or enforceability of private covenants or other contractual agreements among property owners relating to dwelling type restrictions’ mean nothing since we have seen otherwise.

To make it worse: “Development and permitting of an accessory dwelling unit shall not be subject to any (my underline) of the following requirements:

(1) Owner-occupancy of any dwelling unit, including an accessory unit.

(2) Minimum parking requirements or other parking restrictions, including the imposition of additional parking requirements where an existing structure is converted for use as an accessory dwelling unit.

(3) Conditional use zoning”

Worse still: “In permitting accessory dwelling units under this section, a local government shall not do any (my bold and underline) of the following:

(1) Prohibit the connection of the accessory dwelling unit to existing utilities serving the primary dwelling unit.

(2) Charge any fee other than a building permit that does not exceed the amount charged for any single-family dwelling unit similar in nature.”

S906, S374 and H409 are not in the best interest of Henderson County or for our state. Coming from both New York and California, this is a recipe for disastrous consequences for our economy and quality of life. Henderson is a beautiful place that is being transformed into Asheville by design. They clearly infringe upon private property rights. The by-partisan support for the bills also does not lend to their credibility or make it okay.

It would be great if you and Jennifer could meet with us. If you have time and you are home, we can make alternate arrangements around your schedule.

We regularly meet the third Thursday of every month at noon at Bay Breeze Restaurant in Hendersonville. We would be happy to have you come to talk to the folks so we can plan to work together to preserve North Carolina and our Henderson County.

Our concerns are these:

1) remove yourselves from these bills

2) work with us to make sure these bills are not passed

3) draft legislation that PROTECTS private property, flood plains, farmland, and zoning. We will surely support this endeavor and any other suggestions you have.

Thank you for your service and I look forward to hearing from you.

Jane Bilello

209 986 3845

Resources:

NCEIT

· Handout of Legislative Priorities 5/22 & 5/29/24

· Justification to Require Proof of Citizenship in NC