Littleton Select Board Authorizes $18.28 Million Senior Center Construction to Begin

LITTLETON — November 6, 2023 — Littleton Select Board greenlights $18.28 million senior center construction and adds solar to the build. The board voted unanimously Monday to authorize Interim Town Administrator Ryan Ferrara to issue a notice to proceed to construction manager Common Road Builders for the Shattuck Street senior center, locking in a total project budget of $18,284,896 and directing that a $289,998 photovoltaic solar system and battery backup be included in the initial scope — a choice made, in part, to avoid the higher re-bid costs the town encountered when it added solar to the library after construction. The board also set the fiscal year 2024 residential tax factor at 0.89344900, holding the existing shift and declining to adopt either a residential exemption or a small commercial exemption, against a backdrop of average single-family assessments that rose 13 percent in a single year to $672,106. Extended public comment over the failed Webster land purchase prompted Select Board Chair Mark Wilson to announce he is working with Finance Committee leadership to develop a land-purchase policy that could place future above-appraisal acquisitions directly on the May election ballot, telling the board "a broader number of individuals" should decide votes of that magnitude.