In a controversial move, the Town Council plans to ban the Conservation Commission from reviewing new development, saying the commissioners’ energies are best directed elsewhere.

The move comes several months after commission members vehemently challenged the Planning Board’s approval of the Eastern Village housing development, filing challenges with the Department of Environmental Protection. Chairman Paul Austin also publicly criticized town employees and the Planning Board, and got into a lengthy argument with Town Manager Ron Owens after a council meeting, an incident some councilors viewed as threatening.

Immediately after the blow-up, some councilors considered removing Austin and disbanding the commission, but the Town Council eventually settled on redefining the commission’s role in town and banning it from Planning Board meetings.

“The commission overstepped their authority to the point of conflict with the Planning Board, to the point of undermining town staff,” said Councilor Sylvia Most, who helped draft the commission’s new responsibilities.

While councilors say the changes are not punitive and intended to put the commission’s talents to better use, some commission members aren’t buying it.

“After five years of giving my little bit of free time to the town, it’s a slap in the face,” commission member Jeannine Uzzi said.

She said the commission devotes only a small fraction of its time to Planning Board matters, but had it not been for the commission, the problems at Eastern Village would never have been corrected.

Austin said he views the change as “a punitive measure; I don’t view it as constructive.”

Commission members said the town already has two paid employees who represent the town’s business and development interests; no one represents the town’s natural resources except the Conservation Commission.

Councilors say the Conservation Commission would be of more service to the town if it focused on building trails, cataloguing natural resources and recommending conservation measures that the town could take, such as acquiring key undeveloped parcels.

The Town Council will take more public comments on the proposed changes at its Sept. 3 meeting.