Yes, it can happen. In my small, and also prosperous little town (but no longer so conservative with about 10,000 pop), a new state of the art golf course was built on the south edge of the community. What to do with the old 9-hole country golf course several miles out of town.
The city council came up with what I thought was a imaginative idea for both the land use, and social-development growth of the younger generation, but really all of the community. Develop and archery range, a rifle range, a handgun range, and a sporting clays venue. The possibilities included developing a high school trap team for both the boys and the girls (the community was about to embark on a north of $50 mill state-of-the-art high school). Working with the DNR, we even obtained a $100k grant to go to the project.
Well, the city council bubba’d communication with the community all along, and the whole marketing thing to the surrounding area was virtually non-existent. Plus some residents a half mile away complained at the hearings of the terrible sound pollution that would result, and a nearby family doc claimed at the hearings the lead would pollute the ground water and the “river that ran through it (a small creek).” This, in spite of the DNR’s tests showing neither sound nor lead would be a problem. It was voted down. There were some strong voices opposed and not enough in favor, or they were silent.
The old golf course? It still stands idle, weedy, and abandoned. About 6-7 years now. A grand opportunity forever missed.
