Littleton Planning Board Maps Path to MBTA Compliance Before December Deadline

LITTLETON — February 1, 2024 — Littleton Planning Board sets February sprint toward MBTA housing bylaw as $15 million in grants hang in the balance. The board, chaired by Mark Martineau, devoted the bulk of its February 1 meeting to MBTA Communities Act compliance, confirming it must bring a zoning article to Spring Town Meeting by December 2024 or risk losing at least $15 million in pipeline grant funding. A newly clarified interpretation from the state's Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities — that the town's near-station requirement is a flat 150 units, not a percentage of all units within a half mile — reopened site selection discussions and may allow lower-density housing across a larger parcel, closer to the community preference for duplexes and small apartment buildings expressed at earlier workshops. Select Board Chair Gary Wilson attended and argued the town is already at 140 percent of the state's housing target based on 780 approved units at King Street Common. The board voted 4-1 to grant another two-year extension to the Gutierrez Company's 20-year-old commercial special permit at 245 Taylor Street despite a property ownership dispute raised during public comment, and reaffirmed that the Littleton Apothecary cannabis retail special permit lapsed in September 2023 and will not be reconsidered. A public hearing on Sanctuary Medicinal's cultivation facility expansion, which features a new public odor-control dashboard at taylorstreetlog.com, was continued to March 7.