I guess there was a reason this procedure was ended. Set a higher benchmark for citizenship, but letting each local community vote on each case of naturalization is a bad idea to start with. In the past Switzerland had far fewer to none immigrants, thus it may have made some sense back then.
Switzerland has a long tradition of direct democracy (as opposed to our and most of Europe’s more republican forms of government where elected federal/state officials make most of the decisions).
When individual citizens are used to voting by referendum on most issues, this proposal would not have been so unusual.
Switzerland traditionally handles immigration and naturalization at the local level by local elected officials but not by the anonymous votes of local citizens.