Coalition Member Colin Kelly speaking to Greensboro City Council on June 17, 2008

The Coalition of Concerned Citizens of the Triad went to the Greensboro City Council on June 17, 2008 to make the case for bringing back Protest Petitions to the citizens of Greensboro.During the speakers from the floor section of the Greensboro City Council meeting, Keith Brown and Colin Kelly spoke for 3 minutes a piece. It is hard to get what you want to say in 3 minutes but below is the transcript of Colin Kelly's speech. Also if you would like to see the video of the Greensboro City Council meeting then jump to #4. Click below

Greensboro City Council Video

I am Colin Kelly and I reside at 6716 Forsythia Drive Greensboro.

Madam Mayor, Council Members

I am a member of the Coalition of Concerned Citizens and we feel

that the Protest Petition needs to be re-instated.

Coalition for Concerned Citizens has 5 large neighborhoods participating and we are growing. There are many areas of Greensboro that are fed up with the “in-fill” attitude of our city leaders. Growth is good and I support it but the guidelines currently set are not enough to protect our long standing neighborhoods. Please look closely at the current situation in Greensboro and consider bringing back the protest petition to our city.

Greensboro City Council and the zoning commission are a run away development freight train that is out of control. The protest petition will probably not stop this freight train but it might slow it down. If the proposal is worthy then the majority of the council will prevail and the protest petition will not affect that. Why is TREBIC so afraid of the petition?



Greensboro managed to exempt itself from Protest Petition 37 years ago. I have heard
comments to the effect that Greensboro had the foresight to exempt itself from this
state statue in 1971. I am absolutely sure that “foresight” is the correct term I would
use to describe this “injustice”. I have also heard comments to the effect that it is
antiquated and it will hinder future growth in Greensboro. All other cities in our
state have the Protest Petition and their growth has not been hindered. Raleigh,
in fact, has grown quite well so has Charlotte, Asheville, Wilmington…
and I could go on.

The Protest Petition will not hinder growth in our city. It will give the citizens
an opportunity to express to the developers satisfaction as well as their
dissatisfaction to areas of development. It will not stop development.
As an example I would like to talk about the area on Highway 68
near Wendover. The citizens of High Point used the Protest Petition
to state their dissatisfaction with the proposed development. They were able
to negotiate reduced saturation and lighting abutting a single family neighborhood.

Earlier this year in this very chamber the citizens of Western Greensboro
lost an attempt to stop development of an apartment complex going next
to a 50 year old single family neighborhood. The Protest Petition would have
given those citizens the opportunity to say to the builder that this does not fit.
Reduce the density and make it compatible with the existing neighborhood
and we will accept it. We were not given that option because Greensboro is
exempt from theProtest Petition.

The taxpaying citizens of Greensboro have given this message to this council.
It is time for this council to start listening to the people that elected them.
It is also time for this council to send a message to Raleigh and the
Guilford delegation that it is time for Greensboro to re-instate the Protest Petition
because this is what its citizen’s wants.

Thank you.