Littleton Planning Board Approves Senior Center Site Plan, Sets MBTA Zoning Hearing

LITTLETON -- September 14, 2023, Littleton Planning Board unanimously approved the Senior Center site plan and advanced MBTA Communities zoning toward a November town meeting vote. The board approved the site plan for the new two-story Senior Center at 610 Shattuck Street, conditioned on project team LLB Architects and CDW Consultants resolving all outstanding comments from peer reviewer Green prior to building permit issuance; the facility adds 19 parking spaces to the library complex and includes a bocce court and community garden. The board then continued an Approval Not Required plan for 245 Foster Street, where the Long family has proposed carving off a 10-acre parcel for a new 150-unit transit-oriented housing district adjacent to the commuter rail station, after members objected to the location of a proposed access easement near an existing residence, with attorney Christine Hung of Reamer and Bronstein agreeing to grant an extension of the 21-day statutory deadline. The board concluded with a lengthy line-by-line review of draft Article 33, the MBTA Communities zoning bylaw, surfacing concerns about the definition of impervious surface, the affordability provisions' interaction with the Subsidized Housing Inventory, and an overly broad waiver clause, before voting to schedule a public hearing for October 12 at 6:15 p.m. four weeks before the November 1 town meeting at which the bylaw must pass by simple majority or Littleton risks losing state grant eligibility.