Westport officials worry that a state question on the Tuesday, Nov. 3 ballot could, if passed, alter the unique rural quality of Westport forever — and not for the better.

State question 7, ‘An Act to allow single-family homes on small lots in areas with adequate infrastructure,’ would vastly reduce the size of buildable lots across the commonwealth, allowing single family homes to be built on lots as small as 5,000 square feet as long as they are already zoned for residential, have public water and sewer, and at least 50 feet of frontage on a public street. Currently, the minimum buildable residential lot size in Westport is 40,000 square feet.

While the proposal has been supported by affordable housing advocates and has strong support from the Real Estate community, some Westport officials believe it will take away valuable town control, lead to congestion in once quiet parts of town and could spell the death knell of any future plan to run sewers along State Road (Route 6). The reason? They fear residents won’t likely vote for future infrastructure upgrades in the north end if the result will be hundreds of new homes on tiny lots that have existed, at least on paper, for decades.

“It puts us between a rock and a hard place,” planning board chairman James Whitin said last week, referencing a host of substandard lots, all of which went in before modern zoning, that could become developable if the question passes:

Among them is one cluster of “400 lots,” he said. “They’ve never been developed because it’s hard; you have to go through wetlands to get there. But that subdivision plan exists on record and whoever owns it, if they could put sewer in, you’re going to have 300 to 400 new houses.”

Though he agrees that housing is a serious issue that needs to be addressed, “I believe it should be left to the local communities, Eighth Bristol District Representative Steve Ouellette, up for re-election, said Friday.

“It’s another thing where the intentions are good, but it can ruin the character of a community like Westport. I tried to get the sewer project on Route 6 (several years ago) and it would absolutely crush any hope of getting it done.”

As far as other areas of town, the law would open up development floodgates and it would be a “free for all,” he said.

Whitin said he has spoken to representatives from the Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District about the ballot question, and unfortunately that organization is prevented fro speaking out publicly on issues liek this as it’s considered lobbying. However, he said the Massachusetts Municipal Association came out against the question.

Said planning board member John Bullard: The question is emblematic of “how the road to hell is paved with good intentions.”