Littleton Select Board Votes 3-2 to Send $1.6 Million Webster Property to Town Meeting

LITTLETON — September 26, 2023 — Littleton Select Board votes 3-2 to recommend a $1.6 million conservation land purchase over unanimous Finance Committee opposition. The joint session of the Select Board, Finance Committee, Community Preservation Committee, and Conservation Commission on September 26 spent most of its evening on Article 20, a Conservation Commission proposal to buy the 36-plus-acre Webster property on Bunkley Road — the historic Bulkley farm — from owner Lyle Webster, who told the boards the land would be sold to a developer for a 66-unit affordable senior housing project if the town declined. A town appraisal valued the parcel at $630,000, roughly 39 percent of the $1.6 million asking price; staff warned debt service on the necessary borrowing could reach $250,000 in year one, drawn from the operating budget. The Finance Committee voted 5-1 against recommending the purchase, with member Steve Venuti saying he "would not recommend spending an extra million dollars over appraised value for this property." The Conservation Commission voted 6-0 in support. The article heads to the November 1 Special Town Meeting requiring a two-thirds vote, with a Select Board recommendation of 3-2 and a Finance Committee non-recommendation on record.