Tempers flared Tuesday night over the proposed size of the Habitat for Humanity housing lot, prompting the Marion Board of Selectmen to send the plans to Town Meeting for a vote asking for a lot size no less than 15,000 square feet.

The non-profit Buzzards Bay Area Habitat for Humanity, which builds housing for low-income people, has constructed a number of residences in Wareham and it now planning its first Marion “build.”

Officials and Town Meeting agreed in May to sell the group a portion of town land at 185 Wareham Road (Route 6) near Seahorse Seafoods.

In a hearing on Jan. 3 with the Selectmen, members of the Open Space Acquisition Commission requested a ruling on the ongoing lot size issue so that the project with the Habitat for Humanity could proceed.

At issue is how much land to sell to Habitat. The parcel is zoned for 15,000 square foot lots but, to help Habitat keep the cost of the project low, the town agreed to sell Habitat a 5,000 square feet with an estimated cost of $10,000. In subsequent months, a number of officials have objected to that small a lot size.

On Tuesday night, members of three boards – the Planning Board, the Open Space Acquisition Commission and the Board of Selectmen – disagreed over how the 5,000 square feet plan came to be in the first place.

Selectmen Roger Blanchette said the “cheap” 5,000 square feet piece for the housing lot was an inappropriate suggestion on behalf of the Open Space Acquisition Committee, which was given the large parcel of land available at the site.

“You’ve got four acres of land over there and the 5,000 square feet should have been 15,000 square feet from day one,” Blanchette said.

Open Space Acquisition Commission member John Rockwell said that the Commission brought the Habitat housing proposal to the town officials and it was they who voted on the 5,000 square feet during Town Meeting.

Planning Board member Tom Maguaran said it is his recommendation, and that of the rest of the Planning Board members, that the lot size be increased from 5,000 square feet to 15,000 square feet.

“As it is now, the structure they would build would fill most of the lot leaving very little room,” Maguaran said. “It’s not really the kind of lot anyone with a family would want. Where would the kids play? The 5,000 square feet ruling was stingy and inappropriate.”

Selectmen Chairman John Henry called for the accusations over who approved the 5,000 square feet for the lot to stop.

“No one here objected to the size,” Henry said. “All of the heads nodded at the same time during Town Meeting. There was no scam. If we have a chance to do something different we should.”

In December the Planning Board recommended that the distance between the house and the street be 200 feet in accordance with state zoning laws.

John Rockwell, member of the Open Space Acquisition Commission asked that the Selectmen wait to make a request for the Town Meeting on the frontage - the spacing between the house and the street - until engineers have completed assessments of the area.

The Selectmen agreed to wait for the reports instead of making an immediate suggestion on the frontage to be considered for the May Town Meeting.

Town Counsel Jon Witten said that any change to the original Town Meeting decision in 2010 would have to go back to Town Meeting for another vote.

The Selectmen ruled that the lot size be determined during the Town Meeting, with a request that the lot be proposed in Town Meeting with a size in between 15,000 and 22,000 square feet to accommodate the needs of the future residents.

“We look forward to moving on with this,” Rockwell said. “We’ve been sitting on this a long time.”