If your first real exposure to opposition is the night of the public hearing, your project is already in serious trouble.
Developers who treat hearings as the “start” of the process fail to understand the modern political landscape. By the time you arrive at that meeting:
- Opinions are already formed.
- Social media narratives are already entrenched.
- Opponents have organized, recruited, and framed the project.
- Elected officials have already taken the temperature of their constituents.
And the worst part?
The opponents have already won the optics battle.
The room is filled with red T-shirts.
Signs line the lobby.
Dozens of angry residents crowd the microphone.
Your team, meanwhile, arrives with engineers and PowerPoint slides.
This mismatch is fatal.
“Imagine being an elected official who needs to vote in front of a room full of angry constituents.”
They won’t do it.
They don’t care about the merits of your traffic studies. Their political calculus is simple: voting for your project is political suicide.
The Real Mistake
Failing to identify opponents early, failing to engage them meaningfully, and failing to build visible support long before the hearing.
You must demonstrate that your supporters exist—letters, testimonials, residents willing to stand up at the microphone.
Otherwise, the only voices in the room belong to your opponents.
Key Takeaway
Hearings are not where you win support. They are where you show the support you’ve already built.
