SOUTHPORT – Residents have rejected a proposal that would have allowed the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences to move forward with plans for a new $12 million marine research facility.

The vote at Monday night’s town meeting was 134-61 against a proposed zoning change that would have paved the way for the project. And it’s no surprise because opposition to the project has been strong.

“We do not believe they belong on the fragile island of Southport,” read a petition signed by 30 voters.

Bigelow wants to move from cramped quarters at Boothbay Harbor to 24 acres it owns on Southport island. The project would have included a 100-foot pier and a 60,000-square-foot building with enough space for 80 scientists.

Bigelow, which has an international reputation in marine research and education, is the area’s largest private employer. It has been leasing small buildings from the state at McKown Point for the past 27 years.

“This is the best site for us,” Bigelow Executive Director Louis “Sandy” Sage said of Southport. “We already own it. It’s on deep water so we can bring ships in, and it allows us to stay in the area.”

To assuage residents’ concerns, Bigelow eliminated a plan for on-site housing for students and visiting scientists, agreed to install composting toilets and designed a narrow glass-faced facility that would blend into the woods.

It was not enough.

With the Southport option gone, Bigelow is expected to investigate 60 acres of shorefront in East Boothbay on the Damariscotta River. That property, estimated to cost from $4 million to $6 million, has more than 1,000 feet of deep water frontage.

Bigelow would have to sell its Southport parcel, worth $2 million, and launch a capital campaign to make it work.

Olivia Cole Hauptfleishch, who lives near the East Boothbay parcel, said the property has been in her family for three generations. “I like the idea of Bigelow being there. I want them to have the property.”