It began with a sign, a yellow rezoning sign, the kind that begins many things in Charlotte -- change, discussions about change, fights against change. This sign, No. 99-21c, brought them all.

It was placed in March 1999 on Prosperity Church Road, where slow-moving drivers could read it, then groan, then wonder what was coming next in their University area neighborhoods. Within weeks, Prosperity Road Area Management was born -- another advocacy group fighting another yellow sign in a city with so many.

Like most such groups, PRAM was forged at first by that singular fight -- a threat of a new apartment complex -- but its beef with the city and county was wider reaching. The Prosperity Church Road area had outgrown its infrastructure. Roads were clogged. Schools were overburdened.

And more growth was forecast.

"It seemed like it was unchecked," said Annemarie Wilson, a Leacroft subdivision resident. "They were letting developers run wild without taking into consideration all the things it would affect."

Then came 99-21c: Hill Land Corp. wanted to build 280 apartments and 36 single-family homes on the west side of Clark's Creek, behind the Brynmoor neighborhood off Prosperity Church Road.

Enough, thought Brynmoor resident Rick McDonald, who gathered neighbors in early 1999 and posted blueprints of the development on his garage door. The neighbors signed a petition, then put signs about 99-21(c) along Prosperity Church, where drivers could read as they inched along.

Soon, neighborhood leaders contacted neighborhood leaders, who began recruiting PRAM members. They were met with surprising indifference. Said Ellen Heikes, an early organizer: "They were saying, `Well, you can't stop City Hall.' Well, yes you can."

About 50 residents signed on, including 15-20 who met at the University Library to discuss strategy. In April 1999, PRAM got its time at a county commissioners' meeting, where McDonald delivered a PowerPoint presentation that outlined traffic patterns, developments and the proposal's impact on each.

"That just seemed to blow them away," said Wilson, PRAM's leader.

Equally important, she says, was a call to McDonald from an anonymous neighbor, who said the proposed apartments would be built on an old cemetery. McDonald researched state regulations on burial grounds. He also called Hill Land's consultant, Bob Young, who said the corporation already knew about burial grounds.

In July, the corporation asked county commissioners for a two-month delay to work on site issues. Soon after, the multi-family rezoning request was withdrawn.

Wilson and McDonald think Hill Land was likely shaken by PRAM's burial grounds discovery. Young disagrees. The cemetery would not have been desecrated by the new housing, he says now, and it was not the reason Hill abandoned the apartment proposal. He acknowledges, however, PRAM's influence: "Neighborhood groups are an active part of the rezoning process. More times than not they have an impact on what takes place."

Wilson's tip: "You can't come across as tree huggers, and you can't come across as being against all development."

This is especially true in areas like University City, where advocacy groups consist of members who fully took advantage of development to move into their neighborhoods. And so, PRAM welcomed calls from developers with proposals. The group also met with public officials to discuss growth issues.

But when Wilson left Charlotte in 2000, PRAM fizzled.

"With any organization, you have to have dedicated people to stay on top of it," Wilson said. "(University) is a very transient area. People don't have a lot invested."

Another factor, said McDonald, is that with the Prosperity area already so developed, the fight against uncontrolled growth was already over. "When that cause, that common enemy, is gone you lose your focus, your energy, your intensity," he said.

Said Heikes: "I think people were just too busy."

But last month, posters began appearing at subdivisions along and near Prosperity Church Road. A new advocacy group -- HEMS -- was forming for residents within Harris Boulevard, Eastfield Road and Mallard Creek Road.

"We don't have a voice up here," said HEMS founder Kim Holley, a real estate businesswoman who ran unsuccessfully against U.S. Rep. Mel Watt last year. "We've got to let the city know that we exist."

The first meeting, on Feb. 21, drew four people. "A lot of people in this area are busy, active with a lot of things," Holley said. "They haven't plugged in yet to what's going on in this city."