Some members of Galway County Council complained of "harassment and intimidation" when they met to consider the rezoning of land near the shores of Galway Bay, which was opposed by a group of residents of Clarinbridge.
A proposal to rezone nine acres of land at Stradbally North, sloping to the bay and adjacent to a special area of conservation, was carried narrowly despite warnings it would negatively impact on the oyster industry.
Councillors at the meeting voted to rezone a total of 30 acres around Clarinbridge for high-density housing, beyond the 94 acres of undeveloped zoned land in the village's draft plan.
In a tense county council meeting in Ballinasloe last Monday, Clarinbridge residents were warned by county mayor Michael Mullens they would be ejected if they approached any councillor during proceedings.
Cllr Bridie Willers (FG) opened the debate on the draft area plan by stating she accepted that residents could make representations, but councillors were entitled to make decisions without fear of intimidation.
"For the past six weeks I have been bombarded by letters, texts, phone calls.
"I feel this is a form of intimidation that is unacceptable. I have been involved in area plans for Gort, Loughrea, Moycullen and Oughterard and we have never been subjected to this harassment - and it has been harassment," she said.
Cllr Jim Cuddy (PD) said the plan had inspired a lot of "misrepresentations", such as the prediction that 10,000 new houses would be built. This was impossible because of the population cap under the county development plan, which allowed a maximum 200 houses to be built between 2004 and 2009 in the Clarinbridge area.
The rezoning of the 30 acres at Monday's meeting brings the residential zoning in the village of 400 people to 188 acres.
Nine acres were rezoned on an elevated site at the northern entrance to the village, between the N18 and the Athenry road, after Cllr Ciarán Canon (PD) said the owner had been turned down twice for planning permission to build houses for his family. Liam Gavin, senior planning engineer, remarked that he must have a big family if his sole purpose in rezoning that amount of land was to accommodate his children.
However, a proposal to zone 42 acres as agricultural at Stradbally North and include it in the town plan boundary - facilitating low-density housing - was turned down. The owners, Tom Considine and Paddy Sweeney, had offered to make some of the land available to the community.
The council had wanted to leave 18 acres of land unzoned to the west of the village along Ballynamanagh road. But a proposal from Cllr Tomás Mannion (FF) to zone half of it was carried.
Michael Egan, of the Clarinbridge Oyster Co-op, said the decision to vote for more housing in the absence of a permanent sewage treatment plant, spelled the end of the world-renowned oyster industry, worth €50 million annually.
"As far as I'm concerned, I'm looking for another job. We're going to be wiped out," he said.