It sounds bad, but if he had gotten the proper zoning issues taken care of BEFORE complaints, all of this would not be happening.
Typically, when zoning change requests are originally suggested by a property owner, they usually go over without too much of an issue or public knowledge. Now this guy is on the radar and will never get any zoning issue changed. He might as well sell and move on as now the newspaper is involved, several notices have been ignored, and neighbors are pissed.