I can honestly say it was the most nervous I have ever been in my life.
Imagine going scuba diving, being about to jump in, and the person who jumps in front of you gets mauled by sharks the minute they hit the water…
… and you still have to jump in.
That’s basically what it felt like while watching the applicant in front of us get grilled at the public hearing.
At one point there was chanting. Seriously.
At another point half the room cheered as a man held a petition with 162 signatures over his head.
“Oh my word is this what is coming for us next?!” I thought to myself
My mind drifted to that 9 am conversation two months prior which had led us here.
…….
Sitting in hard chairs at a laminate table, we listened as the commissioner, entire planning and development team, and fire marshall stared at our site plan… and explained why our project wouldn’t fit into the scope of a variance.
“What you want to do is super cool, but the only variance in agriculture zoning is for retreat centers or bed and breakfasts…. And based on what you’ve shown us, this is bigger than that”, the head of planning and development had commented. “You need to try to rezone to Highway Business if you want to do this.”
Disappointing as it was, we understood. What we wanted to do is a big project.
We also knew trying to rezone to Highway business (which is essentially commercial) was infinitely harder…
… and would probably come with a lot more resistance from the community.
In a stream of long days and late nights, we and our team reworked the entire application and submitted it 4 days later… on the May 26th deadline.
…….
And suddenly I was back at the public hearing and it was our turn.
I looked at Melissa, and she smiled at me, as I walked up to the front.. I knew she was praying for me. For courage. For confidence. For humility.
Thank goodness we prepared our slides so I could look at those and not out into the crowd.
As I finished and sat down, the public now had their turn.
Surprisingly to me (based on the previous grilling), the majority of people were incredibly respectful.
They asked great questions. As we expected, they raised their concerns which we did our best to address..
And of course there were a few.
A few who pointed their fingers at us, raised their voices, and went after more than our project… they went after our character.
And looking from the outside, I get it.
I understand that this is different, and different can be scary… or different can simply be unwanted.
Even though I understood, It was the hardest moment to sit there, my hands still quivering, and just silently having to take it.
And in that moment I wasn’t allowed to defend myself.
And in that moment, I’m not sure I could have said anything that changed their minds even if I could have defended myself.
But even more frustrating was that in the end…. It was a no.
The board recommended against our project.
And we were devastated.
As we silently drove the hour-long ride home that night, the weight of our next steps weighed heavily.
Pull out and spend another 3 months to come back to this point and hope the recommendation was different, or move forward towards the commissioners’ votes, and risk being sidelined for at least 9 months.
We had no idea what to do…
… or if we wanted to even continue at all.
Stay tuned.
Warmly,
Tanner and Melissa
Comments