Littleton Planning Board Approves Sanctuary Medicinals Marijuana Permit on 4-1 Vote

LITTLETON — April 4, 2024 — Littleton Planning Board approves Sanctuary Medicinals marijuana permit 4-1 and picks Foster Street parcels for state-mandated housing zone. The board voted Thursday to grant a five-year adult use and registered marijuana dispensary special permit to Sanctuary Medicinals at 234 Taylor Street, over the sole dissent of member Anna Houston, who argued the permit's odor-control conditions lacked enforcement teeth and that the board was proceeding without a currently valid host community agreement. Chair Mark Yates framed the approval as the only mechanism to compel the applicant to spend "hundreds of thousands of dollars" on an engineered odor management system that would otherwise not be required. On MBTA Communities housing, the five-member board reached consensus to zone parcels at 295 and 305 Foster Street — yielding roughly 1,203 total units at approximately 16.2 units per acre when combined with the King Street Common district — over the alternative of zoning a 34-acre parcel at 245 Foster Street adjacent to the commuter rail station. Select Board Member Mark Rambacher urged the board to "pick one" before Monday's warrant printing deadline, warning that two competing options on the town meeting floor would cause the article to fail. The board also opened a public hearing on an 804-unit amended master plan for 550 King Street Common, including a proposed 150-room boutique hotel and expanded retail corridor, and continued it to May 2.