It's hard to think that Waterford, on the brink of an exciting new development, one that could pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in town taxes, create good jobs and save some imperiled landmark buildings designed by one of country's premier architects, may have blown its chances.

If this exciting prospect falls apart, people in town will have the Not In My Backyard extremists who live near the abandoned and derelict former Seaside Regional Center in Waterford to blame.

Actually, they have not only the NIMBY residents to blame but also state Rep. Betsy Ritter, now candidate for state Senate, who sided with the people who could not see beyond their backyards to understand what would be so good for them, the town, the region and the state.

The state, which owns the property, has been nursing a tired contract to sell the Seaside buildings and waterfront site to a developer who seems so down on his luck, he lost his home in a foreclosure and got put on a court-ordered payment plan to pay off his credit card.

And yet Mark Steiner, in the end, has surfaced with what looks like an incredible partner - one Waterford should delight in having in town.

Both Steiner and the company that manages Ocean House in Watch Hill say they have a deal for the Ocean House to manage a proposed inn that would have been allowed in Steiner-proposed zoning changes that were killed this week.

Those changes were turned down in a vote that was made more challenging by a petition circulated by the NIMBY squad, raising the number of votes needed to approve the regulation changes.

The NIMBY extremist-in-chief was Dana Award, a Planning and Zoning Commission member who did not recuse himself from the close vote, even though his property abuts Seaside.

On what planet, you have to wonder, would it not be considered a conflict of interest for an abutting property owner to vote on a zoning regulation change for the neighboring property, one that could possibly impact

his property but almost certainly benefit everyone else in town.

Award's wife was also a plaintiff in a 2003 lawsuit against the town for zoning changes made to the seaside property.

The Awards are activists on the issue and Dana Award should not have used his vote on the commission to further his personal agenda.

Even more shameful was Rep. Ritter's siding with the small NIMBY posse when she shares so much of the responsibility, as a state legislator, for the way the property has been allowed to fall so dangerously into disrepair for all the years it has sat abandoned.

Steiner's apparent new partner in developing an inn at Seaside is Chuck Royce, whose main business is running one of the world's most successful mutual fund companies.

He got involved in rebuilding the derelict Ocean House and its sister property, the Weekapaug Inn, both in Westerly, because he has a house in Watch Hill and wanted to see the traditional resort preserved, not torn down to make way for McMansions.

You would be hard pressed to find anyone in Westerly who wouldn't tell you that Royce's foray into the inn business, investing close to $147 million in the property, which now pays about $600,00 a year in municipal taxes, has not been good for the town.

It's also been good for the neighborhood and the business community and property values. Taylor Swift's purchase of a house a few doors from Ocean House, for $17.5 million in cash, set a new real estate record for Rhode Island.

Drop a Royce-style Ocean House into the Seaside buildings that are already on the National Register of Historic Places, in a spectacular setting, and you will probably bring to Waterford the kind of national acclaim, in magazines like Forbes and Travel and Leisure, that Watch Hill has seen.

How could that not be good for business in town, for Waterford property values?

But Dana Award and the NIMBY posse, backed by Rep. Ritter, said no.

Going forward, Royce should make his intentions more clear. It seems unlikely his Ocean House management company, which manages only properties he has an interest in, would have publicly announced a commitment to Steiner's project if Royce doesn't have a stake.

But it would help make a stronger case for developing an inn at Seaside that there are deep pockets and an estimable track record in hand.

I would also suggest Ritter get out of the neighborhood and go camp out at Royce's door step to see what she can do to bring him to town and make a restored and spectacular Seaside a symbol of pride for Waterford.

Otherwise, an election is coming and it's time to see if someone else can get it done.

This is the opinion of David Collins.

d.collins@theday.com

Twitter: @DavidCollinsct