Planned Community Struggles With Original Plan

"When James and Mary Lou Whalen first set foot in New Seabury 32 years ago, its sun-dappled streets rolled out before them - partly real, partly promised - like a vision straight out of their Westchester County dreams. What they were looking at was not simply a new house but a new idea: a freshly minted Cape Cod town that would be custom-built by a visionary developer over 40 years. In 2,000 acres of woodland overlooking Nantucket Sound, unsightly clotheslines and window-mounted air conditioners could be planned out of existence; quaint gas lanterns and committee-approved shrubbery could be planned in. Buy now, and the Whalens could be partners in the "master plan" that would build a perfect New Seabury. One thing they did not anticipate was James Whalen, angry citizen. After three happy decades here, Whalen is sitting in his home overlooking the 13th hole, railing at a master plan he no longer supports - and at his lack of power to change it. New Seabury, he said, is not a democracy." Whalen and others want to stop the final phase of the master plan from being developed.

Thanks to Christian Peralta