An overwhelming 84.5 per cent of residents have voted against the Qala Creek project in a referendum organised by the local council over the weekend.
Council mayor Paul Buttigieg said the ballot boxes, which opened on Friday, closed yesterday at 1 p.m., with the result known at about 3 p.m.
Mr Buttigieg said the council was extremely happy with the turnout of 74.4 per cent of residents, who sent a resounding 'no' to the project proposed by Gozo Prestige Holidays Limited.
The proposed development involves a five-star hotel and marina on the site of a disused quarry in Qala which would cost some Lm41 million and take around four years to complete.
The project, which includes Hondoq ir-Rummien, incorporates a port, tourist village and yacht marina.
In a statement, the council said that of the 1,298 eligible voters, 966 residents had voted. Twelve of the votes were invalid.
A total of 806 residents (84.5 per cent) voted against the project with 148 (15.5 per cent) voting in favour.
"This result clearly shows the will of the Qala residents who expressed their decision in a democratic and transparent way," Mr Buttigieg said.
The council said it acted in a very professional way and an electoral commission had been set up with Dr Georgina Scicluna Bajada as its chairman to ensure that the law was followed to the letter.
The commission's members were three former school heads - George Cassar, Joseph Sacco and Martina Micallef - who had absolutely no connection with Qala or any interest in the project.
When asked to comment on the developers' accusations that it had put residents under undue pressure to vote against the project, Mr Buttigieg said the developers had been invited to observe the voting process.
"The Malta Environment and Planning Authority was also invited but we received a letter from its chairman saying he had 'full faith in our transparent process'," he said.
The referendum is not legally binding, but Mr Buttigieg said the council's next step was to prepare a detailed report on its position which it would present to MEPA in the coming days.
The report will include the referendum result and the council's objections to the proposed development, among other points.
Mr Buttigieg said that the council, which was also calling for a meeting with MEPA, wanted to be present when the project was discussed by the authority's board.
Mr Buttigieg said that in its Gozo local plan, MEPA had presented two proposed policies on the quarry earmarked for development and the bay in Hondoq ir-Rummien.
"We fully endorse these policies which indicate that 75 per cent of the quarry should be afforested with the remaining 25 per cent used for recreational facilities," he said.
"We feel that if MEPA eventually gave this project the green light it would be going against its own policies," Mr Buttigieg added.
The developers were last night not available to comment on the result.