Littleton Boards Reach Consensus on $98.1 Million Geothermal School Project

LITTLETON — June 9, 2025 — Littleton's three governing boards reach consensus to bring a $98.1 million geothermal Shaker Lane Elementary School to a special town meeting on October 28. Meeting jointly on June 9, the Select Board, Finance Committee, and School Committee heard from owner's project manager Mark Safford of Turner and Townsend-Herry that costs had dropped from $104.2 million in October 2024 to a range of $94.1 million without geothermal or $98.1 million with it, after design changes including a lower building height, precast curbing, and glazed brick cladding. Financial analyst Steve Annuity reported the geothermal option carries a first-year worst-case tax hit of $859.59 on an average $700,000 Littleton home, with a projected 20-year total impact of $14,065 — down from $16,443 estimated at the May town meeting. Studio G Architects project manager Marilee Mercer said a $2.7 million federal IRA tax credit would reduce the effective cost difference between the two systems to roughly $100,000, and that geothermal saves approximately $17,000 annually in electricity costs. Superintendent Kelly Clinch warned that a failed town vote would forfeit up to $29 million in MSBA grant funding, trigger a seven-to-ten-year restart, and leave a school whose major systems were rated beyond useful life in a 2013 report — with an estimated $44 million to $50 million code upgrade as the likely alternative.