Littleton Commission Issues Order for Beaver Brook Water Chestnut Removal

LITTLETON -- July 21, 2026, Littleton Conservation Commission unanimously approved a water chestnut removal order for Beaver Brook and lifted a wetland enforcement order at 172 Wickham Avenue at its July 21 meeting. The commission voted to close the public hearing and issue an order of conditions, including a waiver and state-recommended special conditions, for manual removal of water chestnuts along Beaver Brook under DEP file 204-1039, brought by applicant Dave Barr with the Conservation Department named as co-applicant; work covering 15 permitted parcels must conclude by August 15 under a DEP condition protecting hatchling dispersal. Co-chair Sarah Seaward and members Ed Fultz, Kyle Maxfield, and Clerk Andrew Sammarco all voted in favor on both actions. Three public hearings were continued: seven ADA boardwalks at Webster Woods (CPC-funded, 131 square feet of proposed wetland impact, replication ratio questioned by Fultz as potentially below the bylaw's three-to-one requirement); a single boardwalk at Castle in the Trees connecting a playground to the library; and a 23,500-square-foot retail building at 550 King Street, where Fultz said he was "not persuaded" by the applicant's rationale for filling roughly 6,000 square feet of the 100-foot wetland buffer with an eight-foot retaining wall to improve parking circulation around the former IBM campus parcel.