I said what "could" be built here. If only the owner of the property had a say in what should be built, then we wouldn't have by-laws and zoning regulations. The market has a place in our community but not all questions of community development should be left to the market (IMHO). A few strategic decisions by the community or its elected representatives may have long-term ramifications for our town.

An example of the community's representatives making non-market land use decisions would be the expropriation of land for a school, as exercised in our own community in recent memory.