FRYEBURG – Voters dealt a proposed trucking facility a blow Tuesday, deciding in a town referendum to put a moratorium on permits for bulk water processing and transportation.

The moratorium passed 467-304.

Town Manager Phil Covelli said the question was put forth by a member of Western Maine Residents for Rural Living, an organization opposing a proposed Poland Spring truck-filling facility on Route 302.

Under the proposal, a maximum of 50 trucks per day would use the $2.1 million facility, which would fill tankers with spring water piped in from an aquifer in Denmark.

Poland Spring, a subsidiary of Nestle Waters North America Inc., was awarded a permit for the facility by the Planning Board in October 2005. However, the permit was overturned by the Appeals Board, and the issue has been remanded to the Planning Board after going to both the Oxford County Superior Court and Maine Superior Court.

Most people attending a public hearing before the Planning Board on Thursday spoke against the facility, raising concerns about more traffic, the possibility of accidents, noise, and the construction of a commercial facility in a rural zone. The Planning Board will decide Tuesday if the facility is a low-impact business.

According to information posted on Fryeburg’s Web site by selectmen, the town passed a moratorium on commercial extraction of water in September 2005. That moratorium applies to the extraction of more than 10,000 gallons of water per day from Fryeburg’s aquifers, and excludes agricultural uses.

The original six-month moratorium has been extended twice and will be extended again this month.

The referendum question posed the question of whether a moratorium should also be placed on the processing and transportation of bulk water through the town, issues which were not addressed in the initial moratorium.

Covelli said the definition of processing of water may be open to interpretation.

“If we ever got to that point, that would have to be debated,” Covelli said Tuesday before the vote was tallied.

According to the ballot question, the moratorium aims to prevent the “overburdening of public facilities” that might occur with the issuance of too many pumping and transport permits by the town.

The question also charged the town’s existing comprehensive plan, land use ordinance, and other laws with being “inadequate to prevent serious public harm from commercial or industrial development in the affected geographic area.”

Selectmen took a neutral position on the town’s Web site, although they did note that approval of the moratorium would obligate the town to revise the laws mentioned.

The moratorium will apply retroactively to permits issued after Jan. 1, 2005, unless 50 percent or more of the proposed facility has been constructed. Covelli said the percentage does not apply to initial work such as surveying, and differs from the “substantial start” definition in the land use ordinance. That ordinance defines a project as having a substantial start if 30 percent of the total cost of the structure has been met.

Covelli said there is a pumping station in town “very similar” to the one proposed for Route 302, in which Pure Mountain Springs sells water to Poland Spring. The WE Corp. has also constructed a facility. Since both facilities are already constructed, the moratorium does not apply to them.

Residents also voted against increasing the town’s bond indebtedness in order to approve a capital improvement project that would not exceed $809,900. The project would have made an extension to the Fryeburg Rescue building to better house both the rescue service and the Fryeburg Police Department.

With the exception of Selectman David Knapp, the Board of Selectmen and Budget Committee recommended that the bond issue not be adopted.

Town Clerk Theresa Shaw said the town has about 3,000 registered voters.