Littleton Conservation Commission Approves Five Permits, Flags Rising Salt Levels Near Beaver Brook

LITTLETON — October 21, 2024 — Littleton Conservation Commission votes unanimously on five permit actions while pressing an Amazon warehouse landlord over spiking salt levels near Beaver Brook. At the October 21 meeting, commissioners approved a one-year extension for a stalled single-family home project at 12 Ivy Road, closed a continued public hearing and issued an order of conditions with a bylaw waiver for replanting at 161 Tehadawan Road, and approved a wetland resource area delineation for 550 Newtown Road after MassDEP confirmed a dormant 2003 stormwater basin is not a jurisdictional wetland. The sharpest exchange came over groundwater data at 151 Taylor Street, where chloride concentrations at monitoring well GZ1 — nearest to both the on-site salt shed and Beaver Brook — have climbed from a 2021 baseline of roughly 10 milligrams per liter to 202 milligrams per liter, approaching the state secondary standard of 250. Chair Sarah Seward called for monthly monitoring and the relocation or removal of the salt shed, while GZA consultant John Packman argued the near-flat hydraulic gradient near the wetlands makes monthly sampling unlikely to show meaningful change. The property representative disclosed that Amazon is replacing its snow removal contractor from Brightview to an as-yet-unnamed vendor this season. A preliminary pitch from the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee for an ADA-compliant boardwalk linking Two Brothers Trail to Long Lake Beach was deferred after abutters raised Chapter 91 permitting concerns and flagged the area as habitat for leopard frogs and snapping turtles.