Littleton Planning Board Directs Consultant to Finalize MBTA Housing Bylaw Draft

LITTLETON -- August 17, 2023, Littleton Planning Board gives MBTA housing consultant detailed direction ahead of November town meeting. The board spent the bulk of its August 17 meeting refining a draft zoning bylaw that would create a new Littleton Station Multifamily District covering roughly 10 to 12 acres of a larger parcel at 245 Foster Street, zoned Industrial A, adjacent to the commuter rail station. Consultant Emily Ennis of Ennis Associates, working under the MBTA Communities Act mandate affecting 177 communities statewide, presented a draft framework calling for a maximum building height of 55 feet, 1.5 parking spaces per unit, 10 percent affordability at no less than 80 percent of area median income, and site plan review as the maximum permitting standard. The board rejected a proposed height bonus for a community multi-use path, directed Ennis to draft for multiple building typologies to allow smaller Foster Street-compatible units near the road and taller structures toward the highway, and agreed to allow but not require small-scale commercial uses such as a coffee shop. Attorney Robert Buckley, representing the property owner, confirmed a preliminary subdivision plan will be filed to freeze zoning and said a conceptual 10-acre parcel plan would be available within a week. Ennis is due to deliver a final draft bylaw by September 14, six weeks before the November 1 fall town meeting deadline.