Needham became the latest Massachusetts suburb to shoot down a controversial state-mandated MBTA zoning plan, but its Select Board chairman says the town won’t follow in Milton’s footsteps. Needham residents voted Tuesday to repeal zoning that would have made the Greater Boston town compliant with the MBTA Communities Act – a plan that carried much more weight than what the state law requires.

After months of campaigning, a heated debate over a state-mandated plan that would have made it easier to build multifamily housing in parts of Needham came to a head Tuesday when voters soundly rejected the new zoning.

The proposal would have created capacity for roughly 3,300 units near two of the town's commuter rail station stops.

Opponents of Needham’s plan to allow more multifamily housing under the MBTA Communities law defeated the measure on Tuesday.

In a closely watched special election Tuesday night, Needham voted to repeal new zoning that would have made them compliant with the state’s controversial law that aims to create more housing in communities served by the MBTA.

Voters in Needham Tuesday soundly rejected a plan that would have paved the way for the production of more multifamily housing in this suburban town of 32,000 and aligned it with a much-debated state housing law.