NORTON - Voters on Monday night rejected a local wetlands protection bylaw proposal that conservation officials said was intended to protect Norton's drinking water.

The fall annual town meeting vote followed a roughly 90-minute debate.

Opponents questioned approving a bylaw without specific rules and regulations, and said the bylaw could affect local homeowners.

"It's a bad business decision to sign a contract before you read it. Is that not what we're doing here tonight?" one man asked.

Supporters said the bylaw was proactive, long overdue and would mirror the state Wetlands Protection Act while addressing wetlands issues specific to Norton. Conservation Agent Jennifer Carlino and other officials said adopting the bylaw would allow them to start drafting rules and regulations, which would incorporate the board's current policies. "I think you're envisioning this bylaw as a major change, and it's not," conservation commission member Julian Kadish said.

Selectmen Vice Chairman Robert Kimball Jr. said selectmen believed the proposal "does have merits to it. There are provisions in it that we believe are very strong."

However, the lack of policies and procedures concerned selectmen, who recommended against the bylaw.

Kimball said selectmen believe the conservation commission should propose the bylaw in increments.

After the meeting, commission Chairman Ronald O'Reilly said his board would discuss its next step at its next meeting.

However, "the regulations, I can't imagine, would be done in two years," he said.

O'Reilly attributed Monday night's vote to people having questions about the bylaw and "the fact that there were outside interests" addressing the meeting.

Attorney Matthew Watsky, who represents several Norton landowners, told voters the proposed bylaw would make appealing commission decisions more expensive, among other things.

A flyer by a group calling itself Citizens for Responsible Conservation urged voters to vote down the proposal. The flyer, which did not list members of the group, was among the handouts available outside the Yelle gym.

Resident Ralph Stefanelli took issue with this handout. "They don't have the chutzpah to sign it. They don't have the stones to put down who they are. That, in my estimation, has a lot of falsehoods in there," he said.

The wetlands protection bylaw proposal was among 15 items on the town meeting agenda.

Voters approved nine requests and rejected two others: the wetland proposal and a request to accept Rubin Drive, a private street in the Rocknoll Farm subdivision, as a public way.

Among the requests that passed were $285,782 to supplement the current budget; $10,000 in water surplus funds for a water department administrative strategic plan; the local-option meals tax; increasing the local-option hotel tax; and accepting Beverly Lane, a private street in the Whispering Pines subdivision, as a public way.

Voters took no action on four other requests.

There were 235 registered voters checked into the session, in the Yelle Elementary School gymnasium on Route 123, Assistant Town Clerk Anne Rodrigues said.