Why not just give full approval? Lol
Government just doesn't work that way. All of Walt Disney's biographies that I've read tell of his frustrations of dealing with the local government issues. And which led to his insistence of setting up Reedy Creek Improvement District prior moving forward on WDW.
Our local government (which I covered for 14 years as an independent reporter) has a Planning and Zoning board which meets monthly to consider new development. The board is guided by ordinances that restrict what can be built where.
For example, if someone wants to build a night club in a long-established residential area, such a proposal wouldn't meet approval. That board has a public hearing where proponents/opponents are heard.
Once the P&Z approves a project, or not, an ordinance has to introduced for the full city council to consider. At the next meeting, a public hearing must be held where again anyone interested can make their concerns known.
After that, the council approves, or not, what the P&Z board recommends. I've seen the council overrule the P&Z several times. So politics is part of it.
The process, allegedly, is designed to allow input from all concerned prior to construction.
The arguments go something like this: "They can't put a 24 hour convenience store on the corner in our neighborhood!! Too much noise and traffic for our residential area!!"
"Our store will be small and won't sell beer and liquor, and will have only two gas pumps. And there's another store only two streets over from this location."
And finally, you hear this argument: "It's my property, and I ought to be able to build what I see fit on my own property!"
