Charter Amendment Vote

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Besides the mayoral and council primaries on Tuesday, there's a proposition on the ballot that is very important to Tulsa's homeowners. All Tulsans, even Independent voters, can vote on this issue. Please read what follows and forward it to your neighborhood association members and fellow neighborhood leaders.

Some secretive group is trying to confuse Tulsa's voters about Tuesday's election. You probably received a postcard urging you to vote no on the proposition on Tuesday's ballot. The postcard didn't tell you who paid for it, which ought to raise your suspicions.

Here's the truth: Voting yes on Tuesday's proposition will give property owners in Tulsa the same protection against bad zoning decisions that property owners in Bixby, Jenks, Owasso, and the rest of the state already have.

That protection is a zoning protest petition. If you believe a zoning change near you would harm your property values, you could circulate a petition of other nearby owners (but only if Tuesday's proposition passes). If the owners of 50% of the lots within 300 feet sign the protest petition, it would take a 7-2 vote of the City Council to pass the zoning change. (If no protest petition is filed, or if the petition is insufficient, the usual majority vote would be enough to pass the change.)

This change would also protect you against the city trying to rezone your property without your consent. Right now, five city councilors could vote to rezone your home, and your only recourse would be to hire a lawyer and go to court. But if we vote yes on Tuesday, and the city tried to rezone your neighborhood against your will, a protest petition signed by owners of 20% of the land that is being rezoned would trigger a supermajority requirement, with seven votes required for passage.

Tulsans had these protections for decades, as Title 42, Section 1703(E) of our city ordinances. The ordinance has been around since before we adopted a new charter in 1989. But two years ago, the City Attorney ruled that our charter doesn't allow supermajority requirements, and if we wanted this protection back, we'd have to pass a charter change.

Would this be abused by NIMBY homeowners to block growth? For the decades that the protection was in effect, homeowners only submitted a handful of protest petitions.

This protection is already in state law for unincorporated areas and all those cities without their own charter. Tulsans deserve the same protection.

On Tuesday, please vote YES.

How will you vote?

http://www.tulsanow.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=3277

Or if you've already voted:

http://www.tulsanow.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=3278