Progress is rarely easy or particularly pleasant, especially when that progress is across the street or around the corner from home.

Residents along Winchester Drive in Natchez have been seeing, hearing and in some cases tasting the gritty, unpleasant view from the front row.

A local housing developer has rocked the world of many of those residents by clearing a 14-acre site on Winchester to make way for a development of more than 60 townhomes and patio homes.

For decades the site sat untouched, heavily wooded and for neighbors that was perfectly OK.

That the property in question is adjacent to the property on which historic Routhland sits is also a concern. The City of Natchez must protect the property rights of all owners, but offer special care for the city’s crown jewels, the many one-of-a-kind historic structures that make our city so unique.

We appreciate the residents’ opposition to rezoning the property to allow the new development.

But city leaders were correct to grant the zoning change on Tuesday.

Those same city leaders owe it to all of those residents to make certain the development adheres to all city codes, follows through on the promise to include a buffer for neighboring properties and is something in which Natchez — all of Natchez — can take pride.

Hopefully, in a few years, when the dust has settled and the new development is completed, the brief inconveniences will be worth the trouble.