City officials work hard to get the public involved. They send out mailings and run newspaper ads to explain how the rezoning will allow apartments in the area. They conduct several workshops and public hearings. They receive a great deal of testimony, most of it favorable, and they proceed to rezone the area. A year later, a developer proposes a new apartment complex in that area.
Several neighbors object, but the city rejects their complaints.
The concerned neighbors might argue that the city is failing to provide for adequate citizen involvement. But the city has already had extensive public participation. Now city officials are simply standing by the decisions that grew out of that earlier involvement. The need for predictability doesn't mean that a plan can never be changed or that a decision should never be reconsidered. But the whole idea behind planning is to have the community agree on where certain types of land uses and public facilities like streets and sewers should go.