You know the old saying: If first you let the camel poke his nose into your tent, five minutes later the floor will be covered in camel dung. You will have to move.

People east of State Road 415 are watching this happen. There is a rural area called a “Joint Planning Area” (JPA) around Osteen. Part of it is now upzoned for single-family houses on lots not much smaller than a quarter-acre, and part is zoned for row houses on postage stamp-sized lots.

The county implemented the JPA some years ago to mollify residents who were concerned about Deltona growing out like a cancer. The rural area was due to be chewed up, rezoned as multifamily flood-prone (MFFP4), and spat out as damp townhomes.

It is not the best area for packing homes on postage stamps. There are wetlands, which require paperwork because no one wants to actually preserve them. There are also gopher tortoises, so the developer has to pay a few bucks into some sort of mitigation slush fund.

The JPA was pitched as a sort of compromise. The promise of transition with some homes having actual yards sounded better than being swallowed by Deltona. But it did not take long for a developer to come along with ideas.

Of course the developer says, “We have actually met with some of the leadership of the Osteen Preservation Society.” Essentially, that lets locals know what the developer intends to do.

One thing that developer meetings do not accomplish is substantial change to the intended development.

The important facts about developers are simple. They do not live here. They will not be here to sit in traffic. The next storm will not affect them.

They were not here when the county created the rural transition. Developers come late to the show. They make strategic campaign contributions, pave the land, and leave.

County staff get the message. They recommend approval, or they find new jobs. Easy choice, really, since their homes will not be buried in developer dung.

This time, there was pushback from the locals. That just means the county rolls it to a future meeting, where hopefully the crowd diminishes. If not, well, roll again, rinse and repeat.

Eventually, those pesky locals will go away. And you know what the County Council is thinking — promises made, promises broken.

— Andrews is a DeLand-area attorney and a longtime government critic. For purposes of the column, he finds it convenient that there is so much government to criticize.