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.