RANDOLPH — An environmental commission has rejected Gifford Medical Center’s plan to build a senior living complex in Randolph, saying it didn’t go far enough to preserve agricultural land on the property.

Gifford has 30 days to appeal the 2-1 decision to the state’s environmental court.

The commission said the project is “too unnecessarily consumptive of primary agricultural soils” and Gifford “has failed to persuade the commission that alternative designs are not possible.”

The commission said Gifford could have built the project on about eight acres of the 25-acre parcel, leaving the rest undeveloped.

Gifford CEO Joe Woodin disagrees, saying the idea is to create a “campus” setting with gardens and walking paths.