NORTON - More than 5,400 acres in Norton are eyed for stricter state environmental review.

The Norton land is within a special designation proposed for the Three Mile River Watershed.

If the 14,200-acre watershed is declared an Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC), stricter state environmental review would be required for projects there requiring state permits, state ACEC Director Liz Sorenson said. "If it's a local project, it's still a local project," she said.

One of three public information meetings on the proposed new label was held last week at the Norton Public Library.

Copies of the proposal and maps are available at Norton Town Hall. The roughly 5,413 acres in Norton represent about 38 percent of the proposed ACEC, Sorenson said. Another 8,700 acres, or 61 percent, are in Taunton. The rest, 85 acres, are in Dighton. The ACEC also would include tributaries to the Taunton River.

Local zoning would not change if state Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Ian Bowles approves the new ACEC, Sorenson said.

Rather, the new label is "sort of an overlay" on current zoning, she said.

"The development possibilities do not change," Sorenson said. "In general, nothing is outright prohibited except for a new landfill."

A group of 11 citizen "nominators," including Taunton Mayor Charles Crowley and a representative of the Southeast Regional Planning and Economic Development District, have shepherded the Three Mile River Watershed's nomination over the past five years.

Sorenson's staff will continue gathering information over the next several months. Bowles' office will schedule a public hearing this summer or fall. Bowles will rule within 60 days of that hearing.

More than 8,000 acres in Norton and Taunton are within two other ACECs: the Canoe River Aquifer and the Hockomock Swamp.

MICHAEL GELBWASSER covers Norton for The Sun Chronicle. He can be reached at 508-236-0439 or at mgelbwasser@thesunchronicle.com.