Littleton Planning Board Demands Apology, Refines MBTA Zoning for Town Meeting Vote

LITTLETON -- April 18, 2024, Littleton Planning Board formally rebukes a member and advances MBTA Communities zoning toward a May 2 public hearing. Board Chair Mark Yates read aloud a letter signed on behalf of four members, demanding an on-the-record apology from a colleague who, at the April 4 Sanctuary's Journey hearing, accused fellow members of improperly protecting the applicant and called the applicant a liar, actions the letter said violated the town's 2008 Code of Conduct and Ethics and exposed the board to potential legal action; attorneys Burns and Levinson, representing Sanctuary's Journey, sent a separate letter to the town making the same request. The targeted member declined to apologize. The board then heard an informal update from consultant Emily Innes of Innes Associates on the MBTA Communities zoning article, confirming a two-part district, King Street and Village Common combined with a new overlay at 295 and 305 Foster Street, exceeds state minimums of 50 acres, 750 total modeled units, and 15 units per acre, with the Foster Street parcels capped at six dwelling units per acre and 12 units per building, plus a 10 percent affordability requirement at 80 percent of area median income. A required legal notice was never published by the Lowell Sun, voiding the previous public hearing; the rescheduled hearing is set for May 2 at 6:15 p.m. in Room 103. A developer also presented four conceptual scenarios for a 34-acre site at 245 Foster Street, industrial, full senior living, independent senior living, and an intergenerational campus devoting 10 acres to MBTA-compliant multifamily, with Jacobs Engineering retained for the industrial option and Health Trust and Walker and Dunlop retained for the senior housing tracks.