The town of Gosnold is divided into two districts. The first covers a tiny knot of municipal buildings at the center of Cuttyhunk; the second is the sparsely populated remainder of what is also known as the Elizabeth Islands.

Voters from these islands put new restrictions on building in the two districts in a zoning bylaw amendment adopted at the annual town meeting Monday. Packed into the diminutive town hall on Cuttyhunk at 10:30 a.m. Monday, 60 voters also passed a $1.2 million budget, elected a brace of town officials and approved a 16-article warrant, including the new bylaw, in under three hours.

The zoning bylaw, presented as three articles but put to a single secret ballot vote, ultimately passing 34-15, was the only warrant’s only controversial item. Since the article required a two-thirds majority vote to pass, the amendment passed by only two votes.

The idea for the changes sprang from the findings of the long-range planning committee, a 20-member group formed in 2004 to look at big picture issues. The committee comprehensively surveyed year-round and summer residents, finding most commonly, that people wanted town to stay the same.

This played out ironically at Monday’s meeting: faced with approving changes, even ones meant to ensure future stability, some voters balked. One resident spoke against the amendment at the meeting, voicing concern that her children would be restricted from making improvements to small family homes to accommodate larger numbers.

Selectman Malcolm L. Davidson, who is the main author of the changes, emphasized that the new restrictions are still far from strict.

“We didn’t want to do tremendous violence to what we already had,” he told the Gazette yesterday. “We made modest, appropriate changes.”

For town clerk Lisa Wright the reluctance was symbolic of an Island spirit of rugged individualism.

“People don’t like being told what they can and cannot do I guess is what it comes down to,” she said this week.

Until relatively recently Gosnold, the smallest town in Massachusetts, had no zoning laws. This meant landowners had no restrictions on how or what they built. A town zoning bylaw passed in 1993 allowed all but a select few uses for houses without obtaining a special permit. These are the first major changes to the bylaw in 15 years; the aim is to put some rules in place for large developments.

“You can have all kinds of accessory home businesses as long as they’re not a public nuisance,” said Mr. Davidson, who began voting at Gosnold town meetings as a student in 1978 and is now in his second term as Gosnold selectman.

Under the special permit rules, benefits must outweigh the adverse effects on the town. “It means the whole instead of the individual property owner has say in the advancement of the town,” Mr. Davidson said. “If someone wanted to start a nightclub, it will stop them.” (Mr. Davidson acknowledges this is an unlikely scenario in a town with fewer than 100 residents in the winter.)

Considerably less stringent than the Vineyard, the zoning bylaw requires 60 feet of frontage in district one and 150 feet in the more spacious second district. Other provisions include restricting property owners to one accessory apartment per lot.

For voter Dr. Seymour DiMare the amendment is a tremendous step in the right direction. “This is essentially frontier country,” said the long-time Cuttyhunk resident, “and any change happens slowly. But this is a monumental achievement.”

In other town meeting business, the country’s unofficial recession did not reach this year’s Gosnold budget, which showed no percentage change over last year. All budget items, which included $200,000 for the annual school budget and $280,000 for electric costs, passed unanimously.

But Mr. Davidson said skyrocketing fuel costs may yet affect town revenue — and therefore real estate taxes — going forward. If summer boaters are discouraged by fuel prices, Cuttyhunk’s tiny, picturesque harbor may be affected.

“We’ll have to see what happens this summer with gas prices heading north,” he said, adding: “This is a boating community and the revenue [from the harbor] helps us with our budget.”

A new Wi-Fi service at the dock, due up this summer, may help. The $7,500 system will charge boat owners $12.99 for a day’s Internet access.

Gosnold voters elect town officials with a show of hands at the start of the meeting instead of holding a separate town election. Secretary to the selectmen Lisa Wright was reelected as town clerk and auditor Virginia Doran, mother of the two students at Cuttyhunk elementary school, was reelected as selectman for a third term. John Paul Hunter was elected town constable, edging out Ryland Knott and Bruce Bagley. Elected without contest were Leslie Monast, tax collector; Leo Ray, Bruce Borges and Lisa Wright, harbor committee; Asa Lombard 3rd, municipal light board; Kathy Olsen and Alexia Lynch, school committee; Gail Blout, library trustee; and Seth Garfield, highway department.