(A) Qualified protests.
(1) In the case of a qualified protest against a zoning map amendment, that amendment shall not become effective except by favorable vote of three- fourths of all the members of the Board of Commissioners. For the purposes of this division, vacant positions on the Board and members who are excused from voting shall not be considered “members of the Board” for calculation of the requisite supermajority.
(2) To qualify as a protest under this section, the petition must be signed by the owners of either 20% or more of the area included in the proposed change or 5% of a 100-foot-wide buffer extending along the entire boundary of each discrete or separate area proposed to be rezoned. A street right-of-way shall not be considered in computing the 100-foot buffer area as long as that street right-of-way is 100 feet wide or less. When less than an entire parcel of land is subject to the proposed zoning map amendment, the 100-foot buffer shall be measured from the property line of that parcel. In the absence of evidence to the contrary, the city may rely on the county tax listing to determine the “owners” of potentially qualifying areas.
(B) The Town Clerk shall certify that petitioners are in fact the owners of 20% of certain specified properties as required above.
(‘85 Code, § 15-8.10) (Ord. 33, passed 10-5-81; Am. Ord. 21-10, passed 6-15-21)