Littleton Approves $39 Million Sewer Contracts With LaPoli Developer in Joint Vote

LITTLETON — June 5, 2023 — Littleton Select Board and utility commissioners jointly authorize $39 million in sewer construction contracts, paving the way for town center redevelopment. The Select Board and Littleton Electric Light and Water Department commissioners voted unanimously at their June 5 joint meeting to execute contracts with Methuen Construction Company for a $19,996,194 water resource recovery facility and with Rivoli Construction Company for a $19,393,039 common sewer collection system, both contingent on a reserved sewer capacity agreement with developer LaPoli Companies, which is building a mixed-use project at 550 King Street. Under the deal, LaPoli will pay the town $18.3 million in connection fees and has helped secure $9.5 million in MassWorks grants, for a combined benefit of nearly $28 million. LELWD General Manager Nick Lawlor told the boards the town will carry approximately $300,000 per year in debt service on related infrastructure until new users join the system, expected around January 2025, when the LaPoli development begins occupancy. In a separate joint vote, the two boards appointed lifelong Littleton resident Joe Knox to fill a vacancy on the LELWD board through the May 2024 annual town election. More than a dozen residents filled the meeting room to oppose any sale of the Nagog Hill Orchard, where town counsel Jenny Merrill of Mead and Harrington presented a three-option framework — new lease RFP, sale with agricultural restrictions intact, or municipal operation — after a nine-month negotiation with a prospective tenant collapsed; the board took no vote and directed the orchard working group to pursue a new lease RFP.