On one level, the Sept. 30 referendum in Bloomingburg, N.Y., is a sort of boring governing question — whether the village of Bloomingburg should fold itself into the larger, surrounding town of Mamakating.

Dig a little bit deeper, and it gets more intriguing. There’s a big developer here, who wants to build nearly 400 townhomes in a village of 420 people. Joining with Mamkating gives Bloomingburg the ability to block the development.