SHUTESBURY — A Special Town Meeting that includes a revised wetlands protection bylaw to replace one adopted in 1987 is being postponed to next week due to Tuesday’s snowstorm.

The seven-article warrant, which also has various spending items, will be taken up Jan. 23 beginning at 6 p.m. at the elementary school gymnasium.

The decision to delay the Town Meeting was made by Town Moderator Paul Lyons, who cited the powers provided to him under state law Chapter 39, Section 10A. In addition, he noted the decision comes “due to poor weather conditions and potentially dangerous driving conditions.”

There are expected to be several amendments made to the language in the revised bylaw, with the activist group Smart Solar Shutesbury objecting to one section that its Wellesley-based attorney, Donna Brewer, has argued would give developers the right to veto conditions set by the Conservation Commission.

During a virtual forum Monday evening, Smart Solar Shutesbury member Sharon Weizenbaum called the section a “fatal flaw” since the applicant would have to agree with the commission’s decision for it to be binding.

“It really gutted the power of the Conservation Commission to protect us,” Weizenbaum said.

With that sentence removed, though, Smart Solar Shutesbury is endorsing the bylaw. The group is also advising people to pay attention to possible amendments that might change buffer zones and diminish protections.

Monday’s forum included experts in wetlands who said adopting the bylaw is critical

One of those, resident Erin Jacque, who is also the wetlands administrator for Amherst, appealed for anyone eligible to vote to attend the Special Town Meeting because it is important to prevent dirty water from polluting drinking water.

“Wetlands are the interface of surface water and groundwater,” Jacque said.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.