There was standing room only in Gloucester’s colonial courthouse Tuesday night as more than 100 citizens showed up to voice opinions on a number of issues, including an increase in the county’s Business/Professional/Occupational License taxes and a public hearing on whether to build an apartment complex adjacent to a residential neighborhood on T.C. Walker Road.

The board of supervisors voted unanimously to deny an application by local contractor C.W. Davis to rezone just over five acres of land off T.C. Walker Road to develop five apartment buildings containing four units each. 

Realizing the opposition he was about to face, Davis, seeming frustrated, said, “I’m going home. To hell with it; I’m not going to build it anyway, so you folks don’t have to worry.”

Davis said he had been “misled” by county staff about the likelihood of being able to build the 20 apartment units on his property. “I spent thousands of dollars,...