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Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler seemed to believe the City Council was in for a long day at a public hearing in early February.

Thirty-six residents, mostly members of the same neighborhood association, had signed up to testify in support of an appeal of approval given to a subdivision proposal.

鈥淵ou don’t have to use your full three minutes,鈥� Wheeler told people who were signed up to testify. 鈥淵ou are of course entitled to your three minutes. I just want to suggest alternatives if people would prefer.鈥�

For the next three hours, Wheeler and his fellow city commissioners saw something extraordinary. One neighbor after another testified against the Macadam Ridge subdivision proposal. But unlike other groups, their testimony was professionalized, coordinated and synchronized with a PowerPoint presentation illustrating their main points.

The property owners, the Griffith family, were pushing to build 21 homes on a 14-acre lot off of Taylor’s Ferry Road. The South Burlingame Neighborhood Association appealed a hearings officer’s decision approving the development, citing landslide risks and other issues.

Carol Hazzard went first, introducing herself as a 52-year resident of Portland. She focused on the landslide risk to existing homes built uphill from the Macadam Ridge property.

鈥淚t is my opinion this development would put hundreds of people and their homes at risk,鈥� she said.

Then Mary Lee Carr, wearing a reflective safety vest in council chambers, testified as leader of the Neighborhood Emergency Team 鈥� volunteer first responders who are trained by Portland Fire & Rescue.

鈥淎s I assess hazards around my neighborhood, I look at houses set upon slide-prone ground as coffins,鈥� Carr told commissioners.

By the end of the presentation, commissioners had been persuaded. They voted unanimously to uphold the neighborhood association’s appeal.

鈥淚 don’t remember a more thoughtful set of presentations,鈥� Commissioner Nick Fish said.

In recent weeks, the City Council has proved receptive to appeals from development opponents. In addition to Macadam Ridge, commissioners upheld an appeal challenging approval of the Fremont Apartments project in the Pearl District and declined to consider a proposal from NBP Capital for a series of downtown towers.

Macadam Ridge was lower stakes: a small subdivision planned by family landowners best known for running the Riverview Abbey Mausoleum. Yet the neighborhood association’s well-organized presentation, aided by local professionals, could offer a template for other groups fighting developments.

鈥淲e conveyed the message,鈥� said Robert Lennox, president of the neighborhood association.

The presentation was assembled with the help of Shannon Hiller-Webb, a neighborhood association member who has professional experience in marketing and advertising. She worked with other neighbors and an environmental legal group, Crag Law Center, to hone the message. They also hired Carrie Richter, a Portland land-use attorney.

The neighbors divided their presentation into storyboards, much like a film. With only three minutes allotted per speaker, they realized they could be more effective coordinating topics into a cohesive presentation.

鈥淲e realized we needed to tell a story in a narrative arc,鈥� Hiller-Webb said. 鈥淏y changing our kind of approach so we didn’t duplicate our efforts and told one story as a collective voice, we came to find that impactful.鈥�

South Burlingame Neighborhood Association members have shared their experiences with representatives of Friends of Overlook Bluff, which is fighting to save a historic tree in its North Portland neighborhood, and the Southwest Hills Residential League, which is weighing in on plans to develop the ex-Strohecker’s grocery store property for housing.

鈥淓very neighborhood association is having to pretty much to start from scratch, so we were hoping to inform of what we’ve learned in four years of doing this,鈥� Hiller-Webb said.

The Macadam Ridge fight is far from over. The Riverview Abbey operators, the Griffiths, have appealed the City Council’s decision to the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals. LUBA could override the City Council and allow the development to proceed.

The Griffiths also have filed a grievance with the South Burlingame Neighborhood Association, objecting to an emergency board meeting the association held.

鈥淭hey’re required to follow the rules, and the grievance basically says they didn’t follow the rules,鈥� Stephen Griffith said. He filmed the proceedings of a recent neighborhood association meeting with his cellphone.

Lennox said the Griffith family’s grievance has little merit.

鈥淥ur feeling is they’re just looking for a thread to pull to void the City Council decision,鈥� he said.