NAIOP Charlotte board members Tim Robertson (Beacon Partners), Clifton Coble (Bissell Companies), Joe Padilla (REBIC) and Chris Thomas (Childress Klein Properties) meet in Raleigh with State Representative Tricia Cotham on March 24th
Members of the Charlotte chapter of NAIOP joined commercial developers from the Triad and Triangle chapters last week in Raleigh to promote legislation that would help North Carolina become more economically competitive.
The state’s three NAIOP chapters support passage of HB 117, the ‘North Carolina Competes Act,’ which would provide the state with the necessary economic incentives to attract businesses to North Carolina. In a letter sent to Senate President Phil Berger, North Carolina’s commercial real estate industry outlined the importance of economic development incentives in advancing the state’s competitiveness with neighboring states, and in growing and maintaining a strong and healthy economy across the state that benefits all businesses, both small and large.
NAIOP of North Carolina also supports legislation (HB 201) that would reform the rezoning protest petition process and remove barriers that slow redevelopment in the state’s growing metropolitan areas. Currently, when a person files a protest petition against a rezoning request, the property owner or rezoning applicant must then obtain the approval for the project by a supermajority vote of the county or city council, even when the proposed project is in full compliance with the local land use plan and has widespread community support. No other council action requires a supermajority vote in North Carolina, including tax hikes and land annexations.
Following testimony by a member during the committee debate last week, NAIOP sent a statement to all state House representatives supporting HB 201 that would require only a simple majority vote by the council in protest petition situations. The House passed the bill last week by a vote of 81 – 31.
Thanks to NAIOP members Clifton Coble (Bissell Companies), Chris Thomas (Childress Klein Properties), Barry Leasure (Greer Walker, LLP), Tim Robertson (Beacon Partners) and Jim Gamble (Bohler Engineering) for making the trip to Raleigh to advocate for the interests of the commercial development industry.
BACK TO LATEST NEWS