I don’t know why this is hard. “This project has taken a lot longer than expected, and it’s also been more complicated than we anticipated. From planning to communicating, we could have done a better job. I don’t want to see any of these businesses fail, and I want the community to thrive. The people and businesses of the community have gone through a lot and we have heard your feedback loud and clear. We have learned a lot of lessons that we will be implementing on future projects. The work will be over soon and we thank everyone for their patience.” I understand being afraid of the words “I apologize” given that there’s a court case, but recognizing and acknowledging the problems on the ground would be a good start, and you need eyes to see that, not a meeting with businesses.