SECTION X – Section 5 of chapter 40A of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2016 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out the fifth paragraph and inserting in place thereof the following paragraph:-

No zoning ordinance or by-law or amendment thereto shall be adopted or changed except by a two-thirds vote of all the members of the town council, or of the city council where there is a commission form of government or a single branch, or of each branch where there are two branches, or by a two-thirds vote of a town meeting. Except that the voting majority may be changed to a range between a simple majority and a two-thirds majority vote; such change shall be made by the voting majority then in effect and shall not become effective until 6 months have elapsed after the vote. However, if in a city or town with a council of fewer than twenty-five members there is filed with the clerk prior to final action by the council a written protest against such change, stating the reasons duly signed by owners of twenty per cent or more of the area of the land proposed to be included in such change or of the area of the land immediately adjacent extending three hundred feet therefrom, no such change of any such ordinance shall be adopted except by a two-thirds vote of all members.