A new state law prevents local governments from restricting American and North Carolina flags on private property, ending a legal despite between the city of Greenville and an R/V dealership that flies an enormous American flag.
The provision was one of several limiting the powers of local government in a “regulatory reform” bill that Gov. Josh Stein declined to sign or veto. The bill became law this week after passing the legislature last month.
The flag provision was proposed specifically because of the Greenville controversy. City officials had fined the owners of Camping World, an R/V dealership on Red Banks Road, for installing a flag that was 15 times the maximum size allowed under city ordinances.
The city sued Camping World to collect fines and enforce the flag regulations, but with the new state law invalidating the ordinance, the city council voted this week to drop the legal action, the Daily Reflector reported.
House Bill 926 says cities and towns can regulate flags “only when necessary to protect public health and safety,” and if the safety concerns relate to traffic, they’d need to get the N.C. Department of Transportation to study the issue first.
The bill only applies to restrictions on the American flag and North Carolina flag, which caused Rep. Pricey Harrison, D-Guilford, to raise questions about whether it would be constitutional.
“It appears to treat patriotic flags differently from other flags, including the LGBTQ flag or Palestinian flag or whatever flag you might want to fly – or even the Thin Blue Line,” Harrison said during the House debate on the bill.
In addition to revoking local flag regulations, the bill would also prevent local governments from imposing their zoning and development regulations on some state government construction projects. The exemption applies to projects managed by the State Construction Office, as well as UNC System projects in Buncombe, Orange, Watauga and Wake counties.
It's unclear what prompted the proposal, but Rep. Brian Turner, D-Buncombe, voiced concerns about its impacts.
He said it’s “going down a very dangerous path in stripping the power from these counties. It undermines confidence in the market, and it will also damage the relationship between universities and the communities that support and embrace them.”
N.C. League of Municipalities spokesman Scott Mooneyham said his organization is “always concerned when land-use authority is taken away from member cities and towns, as they are best positioned to understand the implications of local development and responsive to local residents. In this case, we would hope that the affected towns and universities enjoy the kind of relationships that would allow for those concerns to continue to be addressed.”
In a brief statement explaining why he declined to either sign or veto the bill, Stein didn’t mention the removal of local powers.
“The bill includes a handful of common-sense regulatory reforms, and I appreciate the legislature’s engagement with state agencies on a number of the provisions,” Stein said in a news release. “However, I remain concerned about provisions that negatively impact water quality.”
One of those provisions prompted concerns from Rep. Mary Belk, D-Mecklenburg. It would reduce the number of visits that state regulators make to water treatment facilities run by public utilities. Supporters of the bill say modern technology allows those operations to be monitored remotely.
But Belk argued that “if it's discharging human waste in a local river, I don't trust any computer that does that job without putting eyes on it more than once a month.”
Other provisions in the bill include:
- “Right to Race” legislation that would limit nuisance complaints from property owners within a three-mile radius of a racetrack
- Restrictions on local governments’ ability to mandate pavement design rules than are “more stringent” than the Department of Transportation’s rules
- An exemption that allows pools at single-family homes that are rented out through apps like Swimply to avoid the regulations imposed on public pools
