No one project ... just sheer numbers. Some regional press about the threat of massive growth on a small town.
Consider this. 2000 population of the small town where I work was 937. Now, extrapolated for the current number of dwelling units, it's 1,633. It'll be 1,950 before the end of the year, and about 2,800 at the end of 2003. Not much ... but the southwestern boomtown where I worked about ten years ago was growing at 1,000 residents a year, and there were about 10 planners on staff.
My next Planning and Zoning Board meeting has 19 items on the agenda. Nineteen. Board of Adjustment - two items. I'm the sole planner, remember? I'm getting yelled at by everyone, because the quality of customer service I can offer is greatly diminished. I was written up a couple of weeks ago for not returning phone calls. Sorry, but I'm playing triage now. Not EVERY task I'm given can be assigned top priority.