(A) (1) Protest petitions may be filed in response to any amendment, supplement, change, modification or repeal of this chapter or the zoning map. The changes shall not become effective except by favorable vote of three-fourths of all the members of the Town Board. 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 three-fourths supermajority. To qualify as a protest under this section, the petition must be signed by the owners of either (1) 20% or more of the area included in the proposed change or (2) 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 relay on the county tax listing to determine the ‘owners’ of potentially qualifying areas. The foregoing provisions concerning protests shall not be applicable to any amendment which initially zones property added to the territorial coverage of the ordinance as a result of annexation or otherwise, or to an amendment to an adopted (1) special use district, (2) conditional use district, or (3) conditional district if the amendment does not change the types of uses that are permitted within the district or increase the approved density for residential development, or increase the total approved size of nonresidential development, or reduce the size of any buffers or screening approved for the special use district, conditional use district, or conditional district, as provided in G.S. § 160A-385(a).
(2) All protest petitions shall be on a form prescribed and furnished by the town. Such form shall prescribe any reasonable information deemed necessary to permit the town to determine the sufficiency and accuracy of the petition. A person who has signed a protest petition may withdraw his or her name from the petition at any time prior to the vote on the proposed zoning amendment. Only those protest petitions that meet the qualifying standards set forth in G.S. § 160A-385 at the time of the vote on the zoning amendment shall trigger the supermajority voting requirement.
(B) No protest against any change in or amendment to this chapter or zoning map shall be valid or effective unless:
(1) It is in the form of a written petition actually bearing the signatures of the requisite number of property owners and stating that the signers do protest the proposed change or amendment; and
(2) It shall have been received by the Town Clerk in sufficient time to allow the town at least two normal workdays, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays, before the date established for a public hearing on the proposed change or amendment to determine the sufficiency and accuracy of the petition.
(`94 Code, App. C, Art. X, § 8)