After more than a year of public hearings and heated debate, the Brunswick City Council voted to send a letter of support for an affordable housing project on the Railroad Square site.

Verdant Development Group will still need to submit a site plan and take other steps — including presenting to the city’s Planning Commission — before the project would be brought back before the council for full approval.

Understanding the full story of the Railroad Square development requires going back more than a year. This week, Frederick Uncut producers Heather Mongilio and Wyatt Massey speak with reporter Kate Masters, who was covering Brunswick when the development was introduced.

Members of the Brunswick community were concerned the affordable housing development would increase crime in the area or hurt local property values, according to Masters.

Later in the episode, Mongilio and Massey discuss the recent updates on the project and how feelings among community members have shifted as the project has been updated. At a public gathering the day before the City Council meeting, several residents who said they were opposed to the project when it was first introduced said they were more willing to see the project move through the planning stages.