Littleton Board of Health Approves 550 King Street Subdivision With Public Health Conditions

LITTLETON — September 27, 2023 — Littleton Board of Health unanimously recommends approval of the 550 King Street definitive subdivision plan, while splitting 2-2 on a septic permit extension for a family caught in the town's sewer expansion limbo. The board voted 4-0 to send the former IBM campus subdivision — a mixed-use project of roughly 15 lots envisioned to include apartments, retail, and existing commercial buildings — to the Planning Board with conditions requiring proper decommissioning of an on-site wastewater treatment plant and leach field per DEP regulations and mandatory hook-up to town sewer within assigned flow allocations. Health Agent Jim Gareffi will draft the conditions letter. The 2-2 deadlock on a one-year permit extension for 22 Jennifer Street came after board member Matt Wason said he was "not comfortable" approving variances he had never reviewed; homeowners Tom and Leone Conley told the board they had deferred a $20,000-plus system replacement after a town water department employee verbally told them their street would be sewered — assurances that proved incorrect. The hearing continues October 11, with the engineer required to present the original plans and abutters to be re-notified. The board also voted 4-0 to continue a public hearing on a formal Title 5 waiver policy — modeled on a Lunenburg precedent — that would allow residents near the planned sewer line to defer septic replacement until connection is available, with a sewer activation target discussed as first-half 2026.