Yup. She bought it for what...20K? And in less then 20 years could have sold it for $1.8 mil...more then generous compensation.
Yup, she would have made a lot of money if she had sold. From a purely financial standpoint, refusing to sell was a stupid, irrational decision.
But the great thing about property rights is that property owners get to make stupid and irrational decisions about their property. And they should not be forced out of their property because a developer has cronies in government.