Some residents feared outsiders buying homes. Others wanted higher land prices. Environmental groups objected to development near wetlands. Young families demanded more housing, not less. Farmers wanted flexibility. Retirees worried about traffic.
The public meeting lasted four hours.
At one point two men shouted across the hall about parking spaces as though defending national sovereignty.
Martin stood at the front and remembered the sales rallies of his property days.
Back then he had believed leadership meant making a room agree with him.
Now he understood it often meant keeping people in the room long enough to hear one another.
They changed the plan.
Reduced one housing cluster. Added a walking route. Protected a meadow. Increased affordable units. Guaranteed workshop space. Created a community land trust to hold key sites permanently.