Mandls' motto: Bigger doesn't make it better

At first, Regina Snow Mandl thought a development of shops, businesses, and apartments in rural Wayland center sounded like ''a nice idea."

But then she started thinking about the scale of the proposed 410,000-square-foot, $90 million project and got worried: How would it affect the character of the town? What about traffic congestion?

She recruited her husband and law partner, Alan. ''You've got to get involved," she told him.

After pulling long days at their downtown Boston office, the Mandls -- empty-nesters -- would devote their evenings to fighting the project, known as Wayland Town Center.

Regina, 56, who specializes in estate planning and probate litigation, analyzed how it fit -- or failed to fit -- the town's master plan, while Alan, 57, who specializes in telecommunications and energy, pored over traffic and environmental reports posted on the town website.

While Alan wrote letters to town leaders objecting that the project was being rushed through, Regina kept her neighbors in the loop. In July, the couple hosted a meeting in their living room and Citizens Against Reckless Development was born.

The group launched a leafleting campaign to alert residents. Volunteers walked Wayland streets, taping fliers to mailboxes.

They had their work cut out for them. The developers -- the Congress Group and Streetscape, a subsidiary of KGI Properties of Boston -- threw prodevelopment parties, mailed out persuasive DVD presentations, and even handed out free ice cream at the town's landfill. ''There's no such thing as free ice cream," said Alan Mandl.

More than 100 people turned out a few weeks later for a meeting of the Board of Road Commissioners, which was evaluating the proposal.

The citizens group continued to press its opposition throughout the fall, with members braving rain and sleet to chat up voters at the landfill.

The campaign had its first victory in October, when the Planning Board had second thoughts and recommended against the zoning bylaw it had drafted for the project. Then, in November, Town Meeting rebuffed the project.

Even the developers acknowledge that the Mandls were a major influence.

''They were pivotal," said Dean Stratouly, founder of The Congress Group Inc. of Boston. ''They were more effective than we were."

A few weeks after the Town Meeting vote, the couple hosted a potluck party at their home to celebrate.

But the fight may not be over. A few weeks ago, selectmen asked developers if the project could be revived on a smaller scale.

The Mandls won't be resting on their laurels.

''We want Wayland to stay the same," Alan said, quoting a common town refrain, ''only better."