Billboards

Lot of discussion about billboards around town this week. Kevin's recap of the issue is here. Here's the Herald Sun report on Fairway's (the company that owns most of the billboards in town) presentation to the INC to lobby for a change to the local ordinance that governs billboards. (Read Kevin's post to understand the ins and outs of the deal.) Nothing so far in the N&O, but i wouldn't be surprised if Jim wise has something in the weekend Durham News.

Here's the piece that nobody's picking up on yet.

The INC presentation was made by Patrick Byker, attorney for Fairway. Byker works for the law firm of K&L/Gates. As does Craigie Sanders, the current president of the Inter Neighborhood Council. We've pointed out the appearance of a conflict of interest in Craigie's two positions in the past. As far as i'm concerned, that's just getting worse.

K&L/Gates Associates:
K&L Gates LLP comprises 1,700 lawyers who practice in 28 offices located on three continents: Anchorage, Austin, Beijing, Berlin, Boston, Charlotte, Dallas, Fort Worth, Harrisburg, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Miami, Newark, New York, Orange County, Palo Alto, Paris, Pittsburgh, Portland, Raleigh, Research Triangle Park, San Francisco, Seattle, Shanghai, Spokane/Coeur d'Alene, Taipei and Washington. K&L Gates represents capital markets participants and leading global corporations, growth and middle-market companies, and entrepreneurs in every major industry group as well as public sector entities, educational institutions and philanthropic organizations. Our practice is robustly a full market practice — at once regional, national and international in scope — and it is cutting edge, complex, and dynamic.

Patrick L. Byker Counsel
Research Triangle Park +1.919.466.1264
Fax +1.919.516.2064
patrick.byker@klgates.com Add to Outlook Contacts


Areas of Practice • Professional/Civic Activities • Speaking Engagements • Bar Admissions • Education • Additional Information

Areas of Practice

Mr. Byker focuses his practice on land use and zoning. He was previously Vice President of Government Relations with the Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce.
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Craigie D. Sanders Real Estate Staff Lawyer
Research Triangle Park +1.919.466.1259
Fax +1.919.516.2059
craigie.sanders@klgates.com Add to Outlook Contacts


Areas of Practice • Professional/Civic Activities • Bar Admissions • Education • Additional Information

Areas of Practice

Mr. Sanders focuses his practice on land use planning and development matters. In addition to having extensive experience in working with elected and appointed government officials, he has experience conducting neighborhood and community meetings.

As a former city planner, Mr. Sanders also has experience in comprehensive planning, rezoning matters, Board of Adjustment requests, plan amendments, historic preservation matters and city ordinance revisions.

No way it's a coincidence that the INC is being pitched on the billboard ordinance revision, after so many years of that group leading the fight against billboards. One more step along the road to irrelevance for this once important organization.

Continue reading Billboards

InterNeighborhood Council followup

I've gotten a few emails from current and former board members of the INC taking me to task for my call for the incoming INC president to resign. (Note: i've re-enabled anonymous commenting for the time being to deal with this issue. I'll publish your comments on this topic anonymously if you want.) I've been told that my zoning case example below is inaccurate, and that INC would not take a position one way or another in a zoning case as i described. I concede the point.

I've also been told that the incoming INC president is uniquely qualified for the position by virtue of his education and experience. I concede that point as well.

Those points are irrelevant, however. The key factor is this: According to published reports, neighborhood opponents and adjacent property owners of the Fairfield rezoning filed a valid petition against the rezoning. The result of that petition meant that supporters of the project needed 6 votes on City Council to get it approved, rather than a simple majority. The incoming INC president, who had a financial stake in having the rezoning approved, then lobbied some of those adjacent property owners to remove their signatures from the petition. This lowered the bar for getting the rezoning approved in Council back to a majority.

No one has yet disputed this account of what happened. As i've said, i am not and was not an opponent of this rezoning. My objections to the actions of the incoming INC president are not based on supporting or opposing his position. They are based on the conflict of interest that his lobbying on behalf of his client exposed. This conflict of interest is damaging to the InterNeighborhood Council. The INC board may choose not to see this or act on it. And i suppose that if they manage to keep people in neighborhoods throughout the city from seeing what has happened, they can minimize the damage to the organization. But i'll be honest. Unless someone steps up with a flat out declaration that the published reports are inaccurate, and provides some evidence to support that, i intend to keep pointing out this conflict of interest.

Continue reading InterNeighborhood Council followup