Littleton Planning Board picks Foster Street parcel for state-required housing zone

LITTLETON — July 20, 2023 — Littleton Planning Board directs consultants to draft MBTA housing zoning for a subdivided portion of 245 Foster Street, near the commuter rail station. The board reached informal consensus at its July 20 meeting after consultant Emily Ennis of Ennis Associates presented final test-fit scenarios showing 150 to 217 units across three candidate parcels, none of which meets the state's 15-unit-per-acre density requirement on its own but all of which combine with the previously studied King Street Common district to achieve compliance. The preferred parcel — the so-called yellow parcel at 245 Foster Street, District 1 of the Special Growth Overlay District — would need to be formally subdivided, and the property owner's attorney, Robert Buckley, disclosed at the meeting that the owner plans to file a preliminary subdivision before town meeting specifically to freeze existing industrial zoning for up to eight years under Massachusetts law, while also saying the owner "is more than willing" to work with the town on a negotiated housing arrangement. Select Board member Chuck DeCost told the audience that Littleton has roughly $9 million in pending MassWorks grants at risk if the town fails to comply with the MBTA Communities Act. The board also voted unanimously to release a $40,000 Cooper Farm surety bond to the Field family, contingent on the Fields posting $5,000 in certified checks held for 10 days while an engineer inspects a reported drainage issue at the junction of Cooper Farm and Dean Lane.