Planning Board - Regular Meeting
About this meeting
- Government Body
- Planning Board
- Meeting Type
- Planning Board
- Location
- Littleton, MA
- Meeting Date
- February 12, 2026
Transcript
184 sections (from 434 segments)
Um, we are ready to start the planning board meeting for Thursday, February 12th. Um we have a agenda. Uh 6:30 is for board business. Um we have minutes of prior meetings January 8th and January 29th. Does anyone have any comments about them? No. Uh may I hear a motion to accept them? Motion to accept the minutes of January 8th and January 29th of 26. Second. Second. All in favor? Hi. Hi.
Uh, we have the, uh, planning board annual town report. Have any of you um had a chance to look get over? I have. I did not get a chance to pre-eread that because we're asked to vote once. I can't hear you. Okay. We're asked to vote on accepting the uh 2025 planning board report uh annual report. Is this a time since it's in committee? It is. Okay. Um so if you have any uh recommended changes or updates, please let me know tomorrow morning so we can get it on time.
Okay. So should we vote conditional to or is the vote necessary? Not necessary.
Okay. Then we'll we'll skip that. I I have looked through it and uh I think it's excellent. Um the next item is uh we have lost a member of our board. Anna Houston has resigned. I want to take a few moments to talk about Anna's service to the town. I you know a lot of people serve the town and then when you know the election comes no one hears anything about their service but uh was um on the planning board since 2018 uh for eight years. um during a couple of uh at least one year when I first came on, she was the chair. Um she was on the affordable housing trust. Um and was also chair of that for I think at least a year. Uh she was briefly on the uh CPC, the community community preservation committee and uh she was on the master plan steering committee back when we were doing our latest iteration of the master plan. Uh from my experience with working with her, she was a fierce advocate for affordable housing and the creation of housing and some of the, you know, one of the things we're talking about today will be um uh a significant housing project. Um and uh I hope she feels gratified. Uh that being said, we're looking uh for a um there's a two-step process. There'll be, if possible, an appointment
by the uh board of selectmen for the remainder of this planning board um term until the election. um right now that so I'm putting it out there for anyone interested to put their name for to the board of select um right now that probably will occur at their March 9th meeting assume we get people um interested time then then uh there will be at the time of the election there will be Um, I'm inviting people to run for the remainder of her term, which is two years. And, uh, that's a lot more attractive than the 5-year term that most of us run for, which is frequently cited as a reason not to run for the planning board. And so, in this case, I'd invite people to, if they ever had an interest, to think about it. uh this year um the incumbent Bartlett Harvey will be running for his you know the further five-year term but we would need to fill Anna's remainder of the two years. So, for anyone here in the in the room, anyone here watching um please um number one, as soon as you can get your name into the selectman's office and number two, think about running and
and to do that, contact the town clerk's office. Yeah, town clerk. Uh at the moment the the town hall is not open because of a fire alarm issue. Uh but I assume that it's going to be open right. Email and uh phone still works.
Okay. Yeah. Um so um next item uh public input. I I we had a comment um about our um public input. This item here which says public input will last for no more than 10 minutes and speakers are allowed to speak for no longer than two minutes. This refers to just general planning board issues. It does not refer to uh public input during the hearing process. I want to make that clear. No one we have these hearings for people to come and speak. Uh that being said, if someone goes on and on, they'll be asked to, you know, uh uh moderate their comments. And we often on issues where there's a lot of um comment, we like to hear people who um have new items to bring up. Uh anyway, uh it's now uh past the time of 6:35, which is a um agended for an ANR uh on 146 Tahadawan Road. Uh do we have the proponent want to speak?
Sure. Good evening. I'm Mark Gallagher from Seal Harbor Development and we have 146 to have one on uh under agreement. We're proposing tonight to uh create an ANR uh provide you an ANR plan that creates uh four lots. There's an existing house on the property. I don't know if you're familiar with 146. It's adjacent to the uh to the western side of the lake. Um and it runs adjacent to that there. The property includes a significant amount of resource area that extends from what would be the uh northerly side to the southerntherly side of the of the lake. Um it used to be a Christmas tree farm at one point in time. It was under forestry. Some beautiful trees in there. And then there's about 5 acres of forested property. I think it was some point in time, according to the folks that owned the home, um they farmed it. They had orchard out there and a bunch of other uses uh and resources. There's an existing home that was built in the early 50s. Uh three-car garage that was added on, I think that they used for when they ran it as a Christmas tree farm. And there's a barn on the property as well. So, um we're using a combination. and we have a lot of frontage. So, we're using a combination of lots. There's a there are standard 1acre lot. There is also pork chop lots. Um it's on an existing public way. Um the lots all meet current zoning for frontage and also for area. Um and we put the required 150 foot boxes on the lots that are pork chop lots. So, this is our first step in uh developing the property. Um there's no impediments to
getting into the property. There's no guardrail. It's fairly flat. Um there are multiple entrances onto the property. And uh we would ask you to endorse the uh plan this evening. Be happy to answer any questions. Jeff, could I just Yes. So just for understanding, ANR is approval not required. All we're approving is is that it's not a subdivision. So we're not granting building permits. We're not granting uh any waiverss on any building requirements and stuff. It's purely here to state that this is not a subdivision. Approval not required as an administrative process. You have to meet threebody.
You have to meet three criteria. Um I've covered all three of them the uh threshold criteras this evening. It sets in a public way. There's no impediments. We've completed all the testing on the property. The testing is shown on there. Um we meet all the zoning requirements. Um, it's an administrative matter strictly. Can you talk about parcel a parcel? It's the It's the wetland. Okay. Sure. What would you like to know about it, Jeff? Because the way it was presented was that there's essentially four lots and then the next page is parcel A. So I just Right. So parcel A is is the resource area.
It's a large wetland. I I you know historically my best guess is the lake had extended a lot further down than it does today. It looks that way. Um you know there there's um it's they say that it has a quote unquote river running through it at some point that goes underneath the hatawan and empties out towards the brown property. Um, overall I think our our next step after this is looking at how it makes the most amount of sense to get that portion of the property into either the conservation trust hands, the conservation um some type of conservatory. Um, you know, we've been we've been approached immediately by the conservation trust and by others that would like to um get an easement or own a portion of the property on the upland. so that they can uh bring a trail all the way around the lake. Um we've engaged them. We don't have any issues with, you know, working towards that goal. Um but um this this ANR really just creates value so that we can uh meet our requirements to close on the property in March um and then move on to uh a different type of development plan that would uh enhance the property. But I I foresee that parcel A would not be would would not stay as part of the development. It would be provided to some through some vehicle uh for conservatory.
Okay. Um I do want to acknowledge that we uh had a letter from a butter on the um lake side of the property. And um I think the the the the approval not required process is not a building project. No,
it's literally lines drawn on a map. Um, and that being said, uh, they're they have concerns and that would be addressed at the time of any permits um, under review or any proposals under review for a um, project. When you say the lake side, well, I don't it's no no it's it's like the whole length of, you know, parallel to had one road of the other. Oh, the Steve. Yeah. So, we've already met with Steve. Okay. You know, we we've reached out and um we actually reached out
and we had a meeting last Friday in our office and uh we've had conversation and we will continue to have conversation. Okay. Um or any comments? No. I have one question. You're the applicant is Seal Harbor. That's right. Do you have a letter to us that you have the right to this? So they so the owners of the property uh passed and the um Mar asked us for this. So we had them sign the application. So they say the application is signed by the applicant and it's already signed by the land owner as well. We're technically we're owner by agreement but you know Marin did ask and we went back and got them to sign off.
Any comments from the audience? Yes. Where is it in relation to the Brown property? Um, kind of across the street, you know, where they where they You're heading towards Bud Glazy's. It's on the left. It is. Okay. It is. I've been I grew up in this neighborhood and I can't make heads or tails of the property. So, you know where the lake is? Of course. So, when you cross the lake or you cross the the bridge that kind of comes across where the lake is on your left hand side, it's the next property on your left. It goes all the way up the hill almost about four houses away from Bud Glazies. It's not visible from the street.
It is it it has a significant amount. So it the property starts before you go over the causeway uh where the lake is. So the land starts before that the end of Long Lake and Brown Pond. You pass that. Correct. Right after that, it's on the left. It's actually before you cross and it wraps all the way up. Is it next to Sher Gold's house? Uh, no. Okay. No, I know where it is though. Yeah. Okay. And and I would I would add we always cut our trees at that property. They gorgeous. It is absolutely. We We hope that they'll take down that. It was disappointing. Yeah. It's a beautiful property. Yeah. Okay. Um, may I have a motion to approve this gentleman right here?
Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah. Yeah. I I've dealt with a previous owner back when I was leading the conservation trust. I'm very glad to hear that you're working with them and for a long time they've looked at the area for the resource area. Correct. So that that's very positive and I I know they look forward to working with you. We're we're trying I think there's one not with us there's not an impediment but there's an impediment with the lot behind us that we're trying to that's why when we engage we're trying to maybe do a possible land swap so that there will be a contiguous path around the lake. So we're trying. I mean, you know, everybody has requests. If I can help, that's fine. You used to be on the board and you had several other projects.
So this is useful resource. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. No, no, we we would like to There's no reason not to give the resource away. Absolutely. Just want to make it a note that um we did get a letter from another neighbor um just late this evening um with questions for the board. None of them deal with anything under your authority in ANR though. Okay. Um motion I make a motion to approve the ANR for 146 to second. All in favor? Mark.
And I'm at the 12th. So um since downtown was closed since you know
I'll just get up. She's happy. So,
two Oh, no. You got a lot of room. You want Okay. Okay. Um it's uh the next item agenda for 6:40 which we're past that time. Uh public hearings, King Street Common to offend to amend definitive subdivision uh storm robber review and site plan phase one residential development. This is actually we're opening the public hearing. Um
you want to read the
Yeah. Um, consolidated public hearing, storm water management permit, site plan, 550 King Street, JLB King Street Residences. Littleton Planning Board will hold a consolidated public hearing on Thursday, February 12th, 2026 at 6:40 p.m. and multi-purpose room one in the center on Shadex Street at 33 Shadex Street to consider a storm water management permit application under chapter 38 of the code of Littleton. B site plan review under Littleton zoning bylaw section 173 article 31 property owner 550 King Street assessor's map U810-1 through U810-5 owner 550 King Street LLC and 550 King Street parcel P3 LLC applicant JLB Realy LLC and property owner the applicant is proposing a 318 unit 4 rent multifamily devel development project for the first residential phase of the King Street Common Development. Applications and plans can be viewed online at the planning board page of the town website, the planning board and town clerk's office during their business hours and um ways to contact um planning board office um telephone and email inviting uh people to provide comments. That being said, I'm going to turn it over to Morgan Pearson from the companies.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, members of the board. Um again, I'm Morgan Pearson with Loly Companies, the proponent for this project. Um as Marin outlined very uh very well, we're here tonight for for two separate applications. Uh the first being the phase one residential and then I believe followed by our follow-up meeting on our phase one retail project. Um, again, want to thank the board for this special meeting. Um, really appreciate you all continuing to make time for this large project and holding these special hearings. Um, as I tend to do, I also want to acknowledge some of the team members that are here. As in the past, uh, we've invited the the entire squad. We have our design team, both landscape and architecture. Um, we have our, uh, construction team here. We have our civil engineers. Uh, Mary Le is here as well. from the from the family and and also very much involved in this project. Um so again, we we're we're excited to um to share with you this residential project. Um one reason we're excited, of course, is that we believe and hope it is somewhat less complicated than the retail project primarily because it is does not fall within the formbbased code uh as the board I'm sure is aware. Um but also because uh the housing is just so critical to not only u Littleton but to Massachusetts and I would actually go as far as saying the country itself and this is a big uh this is a large project but in a I think in a very good way and in a thoughtful way bringing much neededed housing to to this area um which we'll go into to speak to as as we present. Um before I hand it off, I I do also want to acknowledge Mark Sack who you'll be hearing from. Mark is with JLB partners. Um we have brought Mark and his team on to as a multif family
specialist. Uh they are the best if not one of the best in the business when it comes to designing, building and and actually constructing multif family um housing across across the country. Um, and Mark can give you a little bit of background on on himself who's who's very much a a Massachusetts resident and has done a ton of projects in in this region. Um the last thing I'll say is that just reiterate uh something we've said in the past which is our intent uh remains to come before this board in the next few months regarding 410 great road as it pertains to the affordable housing um piece where we are proposing a substantial number of units um to what I would say is fasttrack the delivery of affordable housing inclusionary zoning housing um as part of this greater project and that remains to be the case and we'll touch on that a little bit um in this following presentation. Um with that, I'll I'll hand it over to Mark um and happy to answer additional questions and then I'll be back again for the second round for retail. Mark,
Mark Sack on behalf of the co-licant JB Realy LLC. Uh good evening uh chair, members of the board. U we're appreciative of the opportunity to be here. Um, we're very also I want to say we're grateful that the Lupolei Companies has has chosen us to come in and partner with them on this transformational project. Um, as Morgan said, we are a multif family specialist. We specialize in class A multif family housing across the country and we are very active here in Massachusetts. We only do multifamily housing. We don't do condos. We don't do office. We don't do retail. We focus on one thing and one thing well and that's multif family housing. Um I'm joined here uh by my team uh in addition to Lei who we are partnering with uh Wul Hampton uh is the architect and he's going to come up and give a presentation. Hancock Associates is the civil engineer on this project. Comply Wolf is the landscape architect and our traffic consultant is TEC. So quick overview on on JB. We've been around since 2007 and since then we've built over 24,000 units across the country that exceed over 5 billion in gross value. We have a national platform across six offices covering nine states. Uh we we we approach it with the boots on the ground approach with senior professionals in each market. I have been developing here in Massachusetts for the last 15 plus years. I grew up in Walpole. I still live here. Um and so all of my team is Massachusetts based. We're headquarters here in Newton. Um, I think it's important that we also are not only the developer, but we are the general contractor and the asset manager. So, we see the project the entire way through. So, I think we're all familiar with kind of the approved master plan. So, just outlining here where we are proposing to do the first phase of the residential u which will be adjacent to one of the existing office buildings. As Morgan mentioned, we are proposing 318 units in a fivestory building that is going to wrap a garage that will be completely hidden to the public uh space. That
garage will be shared with the office building. Um uh go to the next slide. You can kind of just see how it fits into the existing plan today, the aerial from today. So, we'll be accessing off of the main boulevard and then there will be a separate side boulevard down to our main entrance. We have uh three courtyards um that the landscape architect will get into a little bit more detail, but you know, we're taking a a vacant um well, not vacant, but the you know, the parking lot uh today and and really transforming it into this kind of beautiful green space with an act active space that'll line uh the two main boulevards. So, as I mentioned, it will be a two five-story buildings totaling 318 units uh with a separate garage uh with 711 stalls, 300 of which will be dedicated to the office building. We will have 476 dedicated parking spots for the residential which exceeds a 1.5 per unit parking ratio and a just about a 10 per bedroom. We're providing a diverse unit mix with uh efficiency units, onebedrooms, two bedrooms, and three bedrooms. a majority of which are efficiency and the one-bedroom units. This will be a you know state-of-the-art um facility with um you know fitness center, resident lounges, work from home space. As I mentioned, we have three courtyards, resort style, swimming pool, lawn games, fire pits, uh grilling area and ample bike storage on site. Uh the building will be all electric, you know, eliminating the need for fossil fuels. Uh we will employ energy efficient mechanical systems, LED lighting, energy star appliances uh to really help reduce the overall energy demand. As I mentioned, uh we will be the developer, general contractor, and asset manager. And this property will have full on-site property management, maintenance, and leasing. Just some of the the project benefits. Um, you know, this is part of kind of the the the master plan here and and having the opportunity to replace kind of overutilized or underutilized parking
and develop it into kind of this beautiful community. Um, as you can imagine, there's little to no taxes getting produced right now from the site. So, in terms of increasing annual revenues to the town in terms of property taxes, excise vehicle taxes in addition to the upfront fees, I think it's important to note that this is making progress toward the Littleton housing production plan. And as Morgan identified, I think we're all familiar with the the muchneeded housing and and housing shortfall that we have here. Having the predominant onebedrooms in this community will be appealing to the singles. Um really appealing to empty nesters and downsizers that want to stay in Littleton, sell their house, and stay within the community. Um and we will have it is a a transit oriented housing option with being right off of Interstate 495. And there will be a future shuttle, plans for a future shuttle to the MBTA train. Um, I think it's important to note too, while it it it feels big with 318 units, having 318 more, you know, young professionals, empty downsizers staying in the community and spending in the community, they're going to be propping up and supporting the local businesses uh that rely on these residents that will be coming to town with increased disposable income. This will create over 200 new construction jobs and six permanent on-site jobs once completed. Um and I think it is important to note that right now there is no storm water treatment. So all that rain and and and comes from the uh gas from the gasoline from the cars. We are going to be implementing you know an intense storm water treatment plan with uh infiltration and groundwater recharge which will be a huge uh benefit. So I'm going to bring up Joe Pesnola with Hancock Engineers to kind of walk through the civil side. Thank you. This is all online by the way. If you want to look, you don't need to take a picture. They're all You can get them on off our website. Correct.
Mar. Yes.
Good evening, Mr. Chairman, members of the board. Again, for the record, Joe Pasnola from Hancock Associates offices at 34 Chumsford Street in Chumsford. Um we are the project surveyors. Uh we've been surveying the site for the Lei companies for a couple of years now and we've been brought in as the civil engineers for JLB on on this project uh in particular. So we did do an updated survey because there has been um work out there. Um the north south boulevard with the center island uh was partially built um this fall. Um, so we had gone out and located all of that, uh, along with some of the new utilities. Um, so the layout, as Mark went over, has the two buildings to the, um, to the south and to the northwest, and then the parking garage is tucked behind. Um, the parking garage will have 711 spaces. 300 of those spaces are um slated to to um support the office building. Um so we have the balance of that as well as um surface parking to the west of the building uh and in directly in front of the building. Um and additionally we have a parking garages in the westerly uh parking lot there. There'll be 12 uh 12 parking garages there. 12 bay bays within those small buildings, small one-story buildings. One of those will be handicap accessible. Um, so as Mark said, we have about we have more than the 1.5 parking spaces per uh it turns out to be about one one parking space per bedroom, which seems to be a
industry standard from from that standpoint. Um, as far as the um existing topography on site, uh, if you to the west side of the office building, there's currently a steep slope down to the parking lots. Um, if you've been out there, there's a long stairwell that goes from the parking lot up to that office building. So, we've got some grading to do there. Everything from there pitches westerly kind of northwesterly towards 495 and the um and the stormwater wetlands that's to the far west of the site on on Great Road. Um again the utilities are um some of the utilities from the master plan um come kind of through that north south boulevard and then uh westerly in front of our building. Um so we're tying into the water uh that's that's recently been installed out there for both our fire protection and our domestic uh electric is right there underground. uh that'll be in kind of the al cove um between the two buildings. That's kind of our service entrance. There'll be an entrance to the parking garage there. Um but there'll also be service entrances. That's where the trash will be rolled out. That's where the transformers are. Um so that's kind of our business business end of of the the building, if you will. Um, again, back to the the the grades kind of pitch um westerly. So, the main southerntherly building will be up at um elevation 286. And then the the kind of back building will be down one level from that at elevation 274.
And then the parking garage will will meet those elevations uh marry with those elevations. There will be a an entrance to the parking garage from directly from the the future parking lot for the office building. That'll be up at the third level of the of the garage. Um and um again servicing the 300 spaces in the garage that will be set aside for for the office building. From the standpoint of storm water, um we are taking care of our storm water on site. Uh we will collect the roof rain roof drainage, the drainage from the from the top level of the parking deck and the um imperous surfaces for the new new parking and the new driveways. Uh there'll be a a series of catch basins that will collect that and and run uh in a new pipe that runs uh from east to west towards the west parking lot. And then there's a proposed a large underground infiltration system uh that kind of wraps around that uh one-story garage structure in the parking lot there. Um we did soil testing out there um and the um soils are conducive to to infiltration. Once there there will be an overflow from that system that will go into the existing 36-in pipe that's out there. That 36-in pipe heads northwesterly goes into a 48 inch pipe which ultimately drains into the stormwater wetlands that's on Great Road to the far west. The system that we're proposing will um treat the the runoff um using a filtration practice. It will recharge
um the groundwater back into the ground and it will attenuate the storm water rates to predevelopment rates. I mean we are it is a developed site with the parking lot and outuilding and other imperous surfaces but there is quite a bit of pvious surface along 495 that we're going to be taking up. So there's there's need for um for attenuation so that we don't increase the rate uh of runoff to to that stormwater wetlands uh in all the storms that we that we reviewed the two 10 and 100 year. Um that's uh we did do a a swept path analysis uh to bring the fire trucks through the site and we've met on two occasions with the fire department uh just to talk about fire access um both for ve uh vehicles but also for fire personnel. talk about where the um where the fire department connection will be at the main entrance, where the fire alarm panels will be, where hydrants will be. That's all been worked out um in those in those meetings, and we look forward to continue continuing to work with the fire department um with regards to um their their needs for the project. But safe to say we are of the belief that we fully meet the state fire access regulations with regards to the the layout of the site and the points of access that we're giving to the the fire department. So that's a general overview of the the engineering and I think we're going to move over to architecture
comments later. Good evening, uh, Mr. Chair, uh, vice chair, and members of the planning board. I'm Lawrence Lapamarda with WMA Hampton Architects. I am representing JB for this project, King Street Residences. What you see here is a typical floor plan of the buildings uh combined showing the onebedrooms uh efficiencies uh two bedrooms and threebedroom units. Three-bedroom units being green, efficiencies being red, blue being the onebedrooms, and the orange as being the two-bedroom for this project. Uh on this slide, we're uh this slide and the next slide. Um, we I think we there was another wood I think went right. Was there the cut section or is the cut section next?
All right.
13 and 14. Okay. Um for this project we employed uh contemporary architectural um style enhance with traditional roofs and facade elements to anchor and strengthen the building's uh corners, ends and primary arrival points to address the building scale. We avoided large flat walls and introduced depth step masses and color variations to create shadows and visual interest. Additionally, strategic material um transitions and subtle color shifts help to further break down the overall mass. We've drawn inspiration from the neighboring retail design concept to ensure the project creates a visual con uh com connection that allows the building to fit naturally while still allowing the design to stand on its own as a premier community. Right here we have a have a building height cross-section that just illustrates the project is well under the 75 ft maximum allowed uh by zoning. In this slide we have a a slide of the leasing view surrendering highlights the community's main entrance. The leasing portal framed in white masonry against the darker wood uh darker gray and wood tone panels create a welcoming focal point. This is our front corner element. In the front corner view, cabled roof lines define the building edge while the rooftop terrace adds outdoor space and visual variety. Integrating this terrace into the roof
line anchors the corner and helps break up the upper massing, maintaining a pedestrian uh friendly scale. On this one, this is uh the corner turning down the boulevard, turning toward the boulevard, the building steps in and out, creates shadows and visuals depth. By using masonry and siding as various depths, we avoid flat unriped fl facades, helping the building's overall height feel more connected to the pedestrian walkway. Good. Hi, Alison David here with Coffeely Wolf, a landscape architect. We're out of Boston. Um, so just going to go through the landscape design really quick. Um, this is our overall site plan. Um, we've got a pretty good variety of amenity spaces and different programming going on. Um, so a couple courtyards and terraces. Um, we've got a dog park with a both small and large dog area. um a small covered parking area and an entry um space that's going to reflect the building and be a welcoming uh moment. I will mention as well that the streetscape design is part of the master plan, so we're staying kind of within our um property line. Um we've got a pretty heavy landscape buffer along the back edge of the property and then a lot of um kind of landscape area between the building facade and the the walkways as well. and we're going to focus on the front entry and um one of the terraces. So, this is the entry plaza. Um a large hardscape area mirroring the building and a couple different um varieties of seating. So, smaller gathering spaces, um seat walls and movable seating, etc. So, kind of
creating uh a moment that's going to reflect that that lobby and leasing area. Um some of the precedent images shown here uh and on this slide, you you don't have to go back. They're just uh conceptual. Thanks. Um, and then for the amenity terrace, um, packed with programming. Uh, we've got, um, as Mark mentioned earlier, um, kind of dining and cooking areas, lounge areas, games. Um, we've got a large pergola in the center that's kind of anchoring the space and, uh, separating into kind of different exterior rooms, if you will. Um, a pool and then some, uh, more active lawn and botchi. Um, kind of focusing on more activity. So, a variety of different types of spaces in this area. And then I'm just going to pass it to traffic. Uh, good evening everybody. Uh, my name is Sam Gregorio. I'm the senior traffic engineer at TEC. So obviously you know TEC from the other parts of the project as well and although you haven't really heard me at any of the other meetings I've been behind the traffic as well as for the retail component the master planning. Um, so as we look at the traffic for this individual part of the site, um, it's generally all-encompassing as part of what you've seen before u through even green's peer review of the DEIR FIR document. Uh, as we've been going through the retail, which obviously you'll hear some more about later in the night. Um, for the individual part that we're looking at right now, the 318 units, um, this is a certain percentage of that master plan. Um, and this is for the overall plan, not just the residential component of it. Um so for these 318 units um we're looking at about 115 new vehicle trips um in the weekday morning peak hour. So again that's one hour over multiple
hours. Obviously that number grows a little bit. Um in the PM peak hour 67 new ve uh new vehicle trips. So one of the reasons why that might seem more say low for the po point of of this uh presentation is one it's part of the overall master plan but it's also take into account that as this opens and as other parts of the site open there won't be other things on site to go to. So there's a lot of shared nature to the trips. So even with the retail as we'll hear again later tonight um some of these residential trips um that are on top of that 67 are the ones that are staying on site. They don't need a vehicle. They can walk to the restaurant. they can walk to their retail. They don't need to be in a car in order to do some of the things they're doing. So, what we're looking at here is what we'll call the vehicle trips, the cars. Um, that will be entering and or exiting the site. Um, so all-encompassing the and this is also again for the retail point that again you'll hear later tonight, the off-site mitigation for this particular development is part of the overall off-site mitigation that you've been hearing about at the last few meetings. Um, the improvements along King Street, improvements along Great Road, improvements around the Common. So this individual site doesn't have a uh proposal for individual mitigation for the residential. It's part of the larger master plans mitigation program that's been talked about with Mass DOT through the MEEPA process. And I know that for instance Karen over in the corner has been looking at as part of the the retail uh site as the whole. So with that that's kind of the wrap-up on the traffic. Of course I'll be here for questions and later tonight as well for the next retail compartment as well. So, we will make sure that uh Marin gets a copy of this and this is available to the public uh online. Um I will point out I I know the elevations were a little uh crowded and they may seem a little dark. Those aren't the actual colors. Um the renderings are a little bit more better representative of the colors that we are uh uh proposing. So, with that, we're happy to answer any questions. Uh we appreciate the opportunity. We're really excited to be part of this uh this project in this
community. Thank you, Board. Mark. Um, no. This is what you see nowadays in commercial large scale apartment complexes. The fifth, the finish, Hardy. I'm assuming it's hardy plank brick and hardy plank. Yes. Y. Well, just out of line out of curiosity, could you point out where the um there's there's a a van that's supposed to take people to the train station where that bus stop is going to be?
Yeah, I think we'd have to coordinate that with the police as part of the master plan. I know it's something that we are looking into as it'll benefit, you know, our residents, the you know, future phase residents, the retail. I don't know where that has been identified yet, but I think that's probably ongoing with with me and with the town engineers.
I can speak to a little bit if you want. So, if you wanted today, we could point to a location we've picked out. But what I would tell you more sincerely, I think, is that we're working with the different groups and agencies that are providing some of those shuttles we're working with on uh the different transportation elements to make sure that the the location is the is best fit for what they need. So, I would say we're still working on it, but we have we have a couple options in mind that are sort of along that main boulevard, but I we want them to weigh in more and we've reached out to all of them and are having active conversations with them right now. You're talking multi- stops, I would think,
I think. So, it might be Yeah, again, it's what they want to do and what's efficient and also, you know, working with Sam and his team too that we're not creating traffic issues um and hopefully more more like alleviating them. But we have a good idea right now, but so it's been thought. Darl, uh, couple of they're relatively minor on the, um, civil plan where you show the garage and the third floor. Is that going to be like a split garage, the first three floors separate from the top three floors on that or is that one sixstory?
Yeah. So, there is an internal ramp. So, can do you mind trying to make that bigger? I think you just like from current.
So due due to the topography the office building you can see there on the right they will access the garage on what is the third level. Yeah. And there is an internal ramp. our our access point will be in the in the back there at the first level and there will be ramped up and we will have assigned spaces for both the residential uh and the office three floors for the residential and the top three floors for the
yeah or we may do it by sides of the garage. Uh the garages will be fobbed access for security reasons for both. Um but we were thinking of keeping the office you know for convenience and the uh residential on the on the side left. Um, and you and I I do want to point out so where the entrance to our garage is at the end of the boulevard, that is where we are going to have kind of our moveins, trash, pickup, all out of sight. Um, that's where the transformers will be, the water utility room. So, we thought the design was uh appropriate to kind of hide that kind of behind the building.
And while we're on this one, you know, I I like the idea of the boulevards. Um, and I guess I'll defer to our our traffic studies um there about the accessibility of the of of a ladder truck through that still seems quite contorted. Yeah, as as Joe said, we are we have met with uh the the chief and the boulevard, but I just Yeah, with all of the little dividers, it just seems difficult to envision how a ladder truck goes in there. Yeah. No, we'll be sure to, you know, work with him and and make sure that he's comfortable and his team's comfortable with with the plan, of course.
And then, um, the other one is kind of trivial. Maybe it's just not at this level of detail. Building plan, typical floor, four, five ahead. I see all the stairwells. Is there elevators? Yes, there are. Yes. Yeah, we will have we have three elevators planned. It just I couldn't see where they were going to be on this. Uh, yeah. So, there'll be there'll be one um So there will be one kind of in the back building. There's going to be one right here in kind of the midpoint of the garage and then another one right here for convenience. Yeah. So pretty evenly dispersed. Yeah. It was just difficult to see for handicap access.
Yeah. If I if I provided the ground floor plan, obviously the full set of plans are available uh in your package. Other than that, no, I I like I said, they were just kind of trivial. And then I think the other part during the uh traffic summary, it you know, it's explicit about the morning peak hour. Um but I think there's actually a broader distribution of early commuters, late commuters there. I I think just standing that there's 115 new vehicle trips per day with 300 apartments. Yes. Doesn't sure there you know I think people are going to be looking that that's that's the wrong number. So I wanted to make clarify that you will
well we've submitted a traffic a traffic memo with a little bit more detail as part of the submission. Yes. Yeah. And we're I mean we're happy to for the next meeting of course provide that information. No, I I'm just I mentioning it because we're expecting that, right, to come in. Not that that's number by itself is what's going to stand for the traffic study.
Okay, that's all that I have. I'd like to um remind everyone that this housing is part of our MBTA community's um obligation and uh the state uh allowed us to do 600 of our 750 units required at this site. So, and this is just the background that this uh this project had already been approved town meeting, but um we were able to avoid building an additional 600 units somewhere else. Um and and part of that is the you know the shuttle to uh train station. Um then uh and my other you know comments are basically thank you for the shroud at the roof. I'm sure there's going to be
on the roof. Yeah, it'll be fully fully screened. I mean I can have the architect on that. Thank you for the comment about the color because it doesn't come across on the elevation on that small
um and uh for I think we'll need an overall parking um look at for the office building because you're changing that whole you're putting surface parking around it where that doesn't exist already and it's just not that I don't think you do uh you know lease the office without parking but we need to see the whole picture. Yep. Understood. So um this is a site plan review. It's not a uh referendum on whether this building should exist or uh whatever. So with that being said, um I'll open it. It's appropriate now to open it to the u whoever wants to speak. Yes.
Hi guys, Janine Wood, 12 Christina Street. Um, I would like to ask the board to continue to keep in mind all the things that we worked on. I was at all the town meetings for the MBTA. I've been at several of the planning board meetings leading up to this. Um, what I didn't hear tonight was how many affordable units there will be, how many senior specific units there will be, and that was a big part of what the town asked for, voted for, and worked for a town meeting. So, as we go forward, the only thing I've heard in the plans that actually kind of upsets me is that all the seniors and and low-inccome are going to be put across the street down the way. Please don't let them do that. And um so I'm just
Well, we'll have Morgan talk about that. Okay. So, you know, actually uh and that's your comment is um taken. Um, our zoning requires 10% of um, units um, affordable
affordable in some way, but there's a wide range of affordability. Some of what is considered affordable in our area is actually for many of you would not be affordable, but that's the way it is. And part of what we negotiated at the time of the site plan uh approval was we were getting a pretty large number of deeply affordable um units. Once again, I'll let um Morgan from Loving talk about that, but the goal was um the goal was to get some kind of uh deeply affordable units set aside primarily for seniors. Not all of the affordables, but a a big number of them. And the town hall was considered as, you know, redeveloping that, you know, to to satisfy that. the developers has chosen to satisfy that with their development at Fortune Great Road, which we have yet to see, but that's the plan. And furthermore, the concern of our board has been because it's a phased project that we may not get everything that we plan because the future phases may not be built or whatever. Uh in response to that, Mapolei has um stated they want to build all of their affordable um requirements, all the affordables that are required by this at once rather than doing it peace meal throughout the project. Um,
as I understand it that one of the ways we're going to do this is a memorand memorandum of understanding between Leole and the selectman and there are remedies in our zoning uh if for whatever reason they aren't achieved and it's a pretty substantial financial um payment per unit. Um, so we're as concerned as you are. Okay, that's good to hear. I because truly at those town meetings we we were listening to plans about an integrated um, you know, development.
I I would say to you, Janine, that not everyone agrees with that that many people, including seniors, would like to be together in a community. So, I'm just saying that there's different ways of looking at it.
I'd hate to have everyone shut it off, you know. Um, and I would that those first plans there's 40 there was 44 units and there was no that should have been five affordable units in that. This is this is what we've been concerned about and we have a a letter from the building commissioner that states what they're it it they under the zoning with phases they aren't technically required to provide affordables until about 30% of the units have been built. They are offering to build them now. Okay. Well, I'm asking you to hold their feet to the fire. Thank you. Totally agree. Thank you. Anyone else?
Yes. I have a few questions.
So, I don't typically count to these, but um Oh, sorry. Uh Alexandria of 141 Goldmith Street. So, I am typically concerned about a few things. One of them is taxes. I really don't want to pay anything more. So, and another one is uh traffic. So, I have a question to the I think I'm sorry. I think you're an engineer. you were talking quite a bit about drainage, storm water and uh that kind of uh information. We have a traffic engineer here. Okay. That they can
Well, I I what I was wondering about with drainage because you spent quite a considerable time talking about it, but I'm a layman. I don't really know the specifics. Uh but what I can understand is if something goes wrong, it's a pretty large building. If something fails, um who's responsible for actually handling that and for how long? Like are you if you build the building and uh something fails due to something that you've started in the beginning and now drainage actually isn't working now something is clogging there's a a point uh that is nearby they've already been having problems with their uh I think the uh septic system for a while now you're building this big addition something fails who's paying for it for how long do you have a plan how is that going to work out
they're responsible for it and this is tying at the town sewers. So this is not private sewage system, but they're responsible for everything on that site. And they have to make sure that the post construction the water that's on the site now is water coming off the site is no greater than what's on there right responsible for that before we even Okay. And then uh after it completes they're still responsible forever. They're responsible forever. Okay, that sounds good. Uh then another question uh Um, can I can I talk to you about taxes? Sure. So, um, this was a previous building that was 500,000 square feet that has been empty for many years.
Yeah. So, there's tax space took a big hit.
We're building, you know, and I think that there was a a slide that said that, you know, the property taxes will be $1.25 million. It's not insignificant. the uh cars in the garage will have paid local excise taxes as you do on the car in your driveway. So, um it's from a tax point of view, um we've been working from at full buildout, there will be a significant, you know, three to5 million extra from this development than would otherwise be um if it was just an office building.
So for us it's that it's not going to affect us that much again. And and then then I guess the other question you had was about um the conditions for approval of these site plan approvals is that this is a private um you know the roads they're they're plowed maintained by the developer. So the town is not taking any additional responsibility.
Okay. I want to just add that, you know, if if we look over time at that site, it had a high value of about approximately $62 million. It's currently assessed at $41 million, which has represented a significant decrease in revenue to the town due to its lack of being a vital, you know, building uh there. So I think with the combination of the revitalization businesses there and the new retail uh pieces there, we're expecting that the overall assessed value is going to continue to increase rather than decrease which is had been doing for the last 10 years.
Okay, sounds good. Well, so one other thing I wanted to address is uh you stated road improvements will be substantially complete by 2028. So uh which basically what does that mean substantially complete? Could you would somebody clarify to me because uh in essence if you are going to finish the building but
uh there's no not enough mitigation to deal with the traffic people are going to move in. There's going to be delays. Delays are always present with whatever mitigations you're going to be putting in. So now people are going to move into the building. They're going to start driving. There's no mitigations that are not they're substantially complete. But how complete? What is the definition of that substantially complete? I'll just add on to this because this will be important for the whole entire night probably.
So the roadway be giving that into driveways to Mass U's property. We have to go through a permit to access state highway process with Mass and obviously you've heard over the last few meetings with the retail all the improvements that are coming in. So with that TC will be going through a design process with DOT 25% 75% 100% design etc plus the construction uh bound by that permit we can't open our doors until the improvements are done. So, and what we'll call why we call it substantially complete is you know if we build something but it hasn't been 100% inspected yet it's not complete but you can drive on a signal might be on but the physical approval as built and all this stuff are not fully stamped yet by mass isn't done so that's the idea behind substantially complete it's not physically we're at 98% we're not at 100% because they have to physically stamp something to say we're done all the paperwork has been filed etc which been through the state of Massachusetts is not the fastest process when it comes to paper. Uh but that's generally the idea. So Mass can physically put Jersey barriers on fire driveways if we're not done. So that's the idea. We have to go through their permit process and they will stamp approval of the permit as complete to open at well complete to have occupancy and kind of things like that going forward. So that's generally the idea of their process. So when we say symmetry, it's not because we're going to be open sidewalks, there's construction vehicles still out there, things like that. Um, one of the aspects of uh this as well is obviously the the full design and proof of master T also incorporate 410 as well. So 410, the sidewalk in front of 410 for instance, if that permit has not come in front of you for site plan review yet, that sidewalk might not be built yet because why are we going to build something construction vehicle to drive back over and destroy. So that aspect of it, it's not complete full because we might have to it all depend on how things come for
site plan review before you. Uh so certain things with mass UT through our process with MEPA in there for provincial review process of the permitting was also to understand that certain things might get pushed for like 410 for instance because you can't build a sidewalk if the construction vehicle is going to be sitting on it if that becomes the last site review to come in front of you. the overall improvement for the site, King Street, the Great Road sidewalk going out towards the ramps, the Littleton Common improvements that we're going to have for the pedestrian crossings, things like that. Those will all generally have to be complete before we have the occupancy on the site uh for the residential and for the retail components.
This is an important point because um the state um talked about it, you know, requires improvements in the common and we had the recent uh we've talked about this at the at the other meetings. Um we've had you know the recent fatality there and what he just said was that those improvements will not wait for a full buildout of the site but will be accomplished in relationship to this project and the retail project. And one of the conditions that we'll uh have in the um uh decision is that uh the town be involved uh because right now it's just you and D mass dot and um we would like the town however it's constituted to uh have an input into these the mitigation particularly in the column. One last question just uh sorry not like thorough but uh you also mentioned uh I was looking at the data one second I've written it down before I asked the question uh so your data shows a low number of evening trips uh what kind of model were you using like does it account for the specific bottlenecks and school buses specifically in the area around the building uh where you're where that's being uh built uh because I'm not fully understanding why the evening trips when people are coming back home etc like that's the heaviest traffic why is that actually experiencing a less of a peak increase than the morning traffic could you explain that a bit more what what's
the math behind it we're going to have a later um presentation about traffic period so what's not during the there will be a traffic period Right. And you can defer that question to
we have part of part of the town process is we have professionals that review all of this. It's not just one professional presenting to us. We have then another professional that reviews their work. So we will be that tra and one of them is here. Uh we will be reviewing all this and as I discussed when I asked my question there that's just the one hour. It's not the full traffic out of the site, which is what the traffic review was going to actually take into account the entire 16-hour day. Uh, you know, not just 9:00 in the morning and 5:00. Thank you. Thank you,
Mr. Sanders. George Sandon 672 Great Ruin. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to clarify some information here and I think that uh the town folks here need to know exactly what this developer has done since he bought this property over here. IBM before IBM was over there, the town was not before, but when IBM was over there, the town was collecting money for the taxes over there, which ranged that when IBM moved out, it was about $60 million that they was paying tax on. Well, whether you know it or not, when IBM went out, the taxpayers in the town of Littleton picked up paying the taxes on that property at 550 King Street. When the developer came in here and bought this property, he is paying his share of the taxes until that property rises back up to $60 million. I spoke many time with the town chief assessor and I've been keeping my eye on it because taxpayers are still paying taxes to it get back up to to 60. I think it's at 41 he's paying. We're paying a different to it get back up to $60,000. I mean $60 million. then the taxpayers of Littleton will
stop paying and the developer will continue to pay off. A lot of you didn't know that, but I know that and I've been watching it and I've been checking with the Celesta, the chief sele to how much it has been going up every time they we just did a recent evaluation. Now, when we talk about the buildings of the apartments here, Mr. Mr. Chairman, the developer went to the governor, Governor Healey, and asked her to waver the requirement beyond the half a mile from the train station, the MBTA in Littleton because she allowed Lilton to put the 150 unit down there next to the property and allow the 600 to be put over on the 550 property that developer went to the governor and asked the governor and the governor approved that but the people in this town didn't know that happened like that but that's exactly what happened why that 600 is being picked up by him piggybacking off of let me tell you something else about this developer that people don't know in this town when he came into this town he bought 550 over there he was not interested in 410. 410 came about when we found out that it went nationwide that we had the most gun dealers in one location in this nation than any other point in this nation. And you know what? It was the town of Littleton that went to his developer and asked him to buy that building. He went and tried to negotiate. The guy
wanted too much money for it. But he kept negotiating till he got the guy down. He bought the bill. That's how 410 became a part of this developer project here in the town of Littleton. He bought that because the town wanted to get rid of I understand right now there's about 78 or 79% of the gun dealers are out of that building. Because gun dealers and business have rights. You can't walk on people rights. So what he did was that when it expired then he wasn't renewal because he's going to tear that building down over there. And let me tell you something else, Mr. Chairman. What this developer decided to do, he decided that he was going to help Littleton with affordable housing. He's going to give you based on the amount that he's supposed to with the 10%. He gonna advance you the total number of housing affordable housing that the town of Littleton would receive from the properties that he would build for housing. He is also going to put in deep affordable senior housing over there. Initially it was like 30, 35, 40. I asked him to give as many deep affordable housing to seniors that he could over there. He's now found a de a nonprofit organization and he wants to put all that housing over there in 410. He's going to be coming to the town with a plan on 410 over there. This is the kind of stuff that most citizens don't know that happened. You
probably ask, "How do you find out, George?" Because I'm a seeker and I find out what's going on and I look into it and I check into it. Yes, I have spoken to the developer many times. I sent him a letter recent that I sent to this board. But I want to say this, Mr. Chairman, then I'm going to sit down. We need to understand this developer has spent millions of dollars in this town, not on the property that he has over here, but on property that the town came to him and asked him to take care of something. and he went to Governor Baker on the sewer system that we have in the town of Lilton. We would not have this sewer system. I was on the committee, the study committee with light and water. It got launched because this developer went to Governor Baker and asked Governor Baker to give the money to Lelen to put that sewer system in. This develop has done a lot in this town and I'm just want to say it like it is. I'm a straight talker. That's why I got the straight talk show. Thank you. Um, yes. Maybe George's got the info I need here.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Uh, my name is Michael Zelden. I'm at 11 Loan Street and the address is significant because I can easily walk to the area that has occupied us tonight and I just have a few questions. The these are mainly because I know the stage we're at, we're still sort of working stuff out. This this is hard, very hard. I appreciate it. Uh the first question is is that I try to get a view using different techniques but I just wonder if any of the team has looked into this is um what's the let's say you have a a tenant on the top floor. How what is the view in the direction of 495? Is that open or is that going to be foliage? You know trees whatever. Do you have any idea at the moment? That's just a question and the question has mainly connected with the following sad fact. During the tough summer months when the humidity goes up and the and there's there's a problem in 495. Big surprise
an incredible wave of I'll just simply say pollutants a variety of them. They happen to drift due to any number of reasons. they happen to drift into the town, especially along King Street in the direction toward the other entry way to 495 and also further in, frankly, to where I live and neighbors and I always know, get prepared for this. Shut windows, go out air conditioning. Is is there any been has there any been on your side on your efforts to figure out how to site this residence? Has there been any indication to you that this might affect, shall we say, the attractiveness of the units? Other words, has it has it been looked at as something that is going to be as it were part of the scene that affects this particular development? Now, it could be because it's seasonal. It's and anyway, what could you do about it? Turn on, you know, basically treat the air. It's about all you could really do. The second thing about 495 is and the way it's configured is that at certain times during the 24-hour cycle, the traffic noise is considerable depending on how the wind is blowing, what the temperature is with you. I mean, it is stacked full of stuff over which no one here has control. And I'm just wondering in your engineering assessment, placement, whatever, what are you going to do? Do you feel you have to worry about noise evasment? God, help us. Okay. I mean, I I'm not asking you to do it. I'm asking whether or not there's an awareness. Now, on the positive side, uh I'm I
believe that the architectural rendering of the building itself, has that been as it were, as far as you're concerned, that's pretty much it? Is that what it's approximately going to look like in your minds to this point? No one wants to say anything. I was I was going to answer everything at the end. I was going to let you ask all your questions and the answer.
Well, this is this is to me sort of the big one because I'm I'm sort of this is one of the toughest things to do is design an apartment building, especially with this location and everything else that goes with it. You know, you have labs, you have bu buildings already in front of you, you're you have a place in the back and all the rest. My first question, my first quiz question is how come there's so little glass and this design it's look look I do know having traveled and been involved in some of building design, it's very difficult to design and come up with an architecture for an apartment building that pleases everyone. In fact, it's impossible. However, there's something disheartening about certain apartment buildings when the resident walks up to it or leaves it or they gets visited that can be disheartening. I'll put a negative on it. And there are lots of them around for reasons there are no rules that some of them are I I want to go back there just to be there. Okay. I would like to have I'd like you to ditch that one that you've got up there to be honest and come up with something where most people would say, "Oh, I'd like to be here." And I know that's tough. I mean, if it's a, you know, two or three stories, it gets easier. But once you get above about four, five, six, you got problems. Unless, of course, you go to Spain. Nice. Yeah, we tried I mean I can have the architect touch on this. I mean we tried to have it blend in kind of with the surrounding nature. You know, we use some greens. There's a lot of wood tones to kind of give it that earthy feel. Um we do have the pitch roofs to kind of tie in with the retail, but we still try to keep it uh with that kind of New England style nature that is Littleton. Um we didn't want to make it all glass and modern and futuristic. We didn't
think that would fit in with the town of Littleton. So um I'm not the designer. I'm not the um so we kind of gave them some direction, but we think they came up with a pretty good design that meets as many styles as possible, doesn't seem overbearing. I think they did a great job with the facade of the massing to not seem like it feels like it's such a big structure. Um and so we're open to suggestions with it. Um that was our initial thought and again it was based off of trying to get it to fit in with the surrounding town with what uh Lupi is proposing next door and and his vision for the entire master plan which I think is an incredible vision. um and really a transformational project for the town. And so that's kind of the approach we took. Um we have considered the noise um and the trash. It's a good thing we have a full on-site property management that'll be there to to clean up any trash that um will probably catch it before it gets out to King Street. So hopefully that'll uh only get better. Thank you. Mark Granbacher, 205 Hartwell. I had a couple questions and a couple comments. One is I didn't know if you considered passive house construction techniques for they're a lot more energy efficient. I know you said you're all electric. I was hoping you were looking into that. um on the parking garage. Uh is there a requirement on car chargers and the ratio of car chargers and things like that both for residents and I guess the uh the uh commercial part? Um I generally like this plan. It I think it would be good to show elevations from both 110 and 119 with with the proposed retail structures there. So you could see, you know, how high the what you see for the apartment buildings from the different side. I think that would be helpful. And my other question is um in
your plan with the phase one, you're leaving a huge amount of asphalt there for the existing um parking lot. Is there a plan in in the early phases to remove that to turn it into temporary green space or something until phase 2, phase three, whatever hits that or what will what will it look like when phase one is complete and phase two hasn't started? I'm gonna let Morgan touch upon the other lot. Um, we are, as you know, Littleton is a a stretch code community, so we will be building uh to the stretch code. Um, I think that's a great suggestion. We are happy to look at what uh the elevations would look like from both uh Great Road and King Street um from that far away to see how the structure would fit in, especially with the retail. So we can coordinate um uh with with Dave and his team um at PCA on on what those would look like combined.
There you I I saw something here about when we did the balloon test in the parking lot. Those are good tests to do. I think people should look at that. I was present for that. I was standing where the retail would go and they had the lift go pull that back up.
Yeah. pull it back up because it was interesting to me because I was not convinced about at that time sixtory buildings and um it was really interesting that you could barely notice this from the King Street portion of the site. Uh, and so based on that, I I agree. I think you should show some kind of town green um, you know, vista from King Street, not above, not to describe, you know, uh, it um, you know, uh, anyway from eye level and I think people might be surprised at how diminuative it becomes. It's a huge site.
Sorry, I got booted from the back. But all right, I have a question while you're pulling it up. Um, you're going to put balconies. Everyone's going to get a real balcony, not a Juliet balcony. No, we're not proposing any Juliet balconies. And we have, I think about 50% of the units will have balconies right now off the current account. Okay. What about on the side like that as as Mr. Zelden talked about where the 495 is maybe Juliet balconies there.
Yeah, you know, with the with the stretch go communities, right? So, we're going to have to be doing case and windows and there's in increased insulation. So, those kind of already will act as an enhanced uh acoustic mitigation versus kind of single hung u you know vinyl windows. Um and we will study that further. Obviously, we want our residents to have a good experience and not not hear the noise. Um we do have some balconies there. I think there are some great views there. I agree. Um And so that's why we wanted to have a good uh mix and sprinkle it throughout the building. A Juliet balcony doesn't really work. It's just a balcony sake. You can't get out on it. You can't. We don't like Juliet. They seem to always have waterproofing issues, so we try not to do them.
I agree. I was I was amazed to see that. Yeah. Yeah. We think uh the residents like it. And there's such beautiful views uh here in in all directions. That's what I thought Mr. Zelden was going to get to the views along, you know, on the 495, you're going to be able to see Mount. Yeah. And since we are up, right, as the the highway dips down, which is also a great sound barrier, right? Sound doesn't travel up. Um, so we think even starting on the third floor, they're going to have pretty incredible views of Mount Wuet and uh, you know, the surrounding area, which is really beautiful. Anyone else? speak to actually Mark.
Um the other question was about what are we going to do with some of the vacant parking spaces or parking lots while we're under construction. Um our plan right now though we're continuing to explore it though is to you know unless they're being utilized of course by the office building but is to um strip those and and convert them into grass um until they're the ready for development. We also are working with our landscape team to see what trees we can replant and you know there's a possibility that they would be moved some of these lots while we're looking to uh to you know build additional infrastructure or you know on on uh on the residential parcel as well. So um we think it's going to look really nice uh in the interim. Um it's certainly a lot of it's not going to be just sitting as parking lots.
I need to be accepted as a panel. that you was in it was I I just found that thing I was looking at it was on the sections showing you know through the buildings can you um
is a panelist Judy Linda Terano 19 which would drive. Is there any solar? We we do not have solar proposed. Uh it will be solar ready as it is required to under the stretch code. And is so is there and will there be any parking with solar above you and I
can't? Yeah, we we aren't proposing any any solar. We will have um and I apologize to follow back up on we we will have required EV stations. So there will be 20% EV stations with uh infrastructure to do another 20% um that will be shared with us and the office. There will be some in the garage as well as for some of the surface parking. Um, as I said, the the building will be solar ready, meaning the trusses in the roof will be upsized to handle the the loads and the uplift as well as the conduit run for the solar. But for today, we are not proposing to have solar um on the roof given the amount of mechanical systems out there that we're trying to hide. Um the um and Nick, it was mentioned, but the bike storage, bike accommodation um could you maybe point that out on
Yeah. And and how do you deal with ebikes, which are somewhat fire departments don't love them? Um um we we will have we luckily we do have um let me just pull it up for you, chair. Um, oh, I'm not I got kicked out of the Zoom again. Um, we do have a a partial basin level level that'll be all type one concrete. So, we would look to do um some EV chargers in there. Um, appreciate that it's in a fully enclosed concrete and not a woodframe uh portion of the building.
Okay. and and in the plans that were submitted, again, we only showed a representative floor plan. The amenity space, which is on the first floor and a little bit of the second floor, that's where we'll have resident storage and bike storage as well. And you'll be able to see that in kind of the plans that were submitted. Anyone else?
Yes. Um, while he's coming up, just one other thing I I noticed that can in the um drawings that you gave us for the overall master plan layout, uh, we have building numbers. The building numbers in the drawing package here don't match building 300 and 400 in the other drawing package. So, if we could get consistency with all of the building numbers so that I'm not looking at building one, two, and three, and then they're not on the master plan. So again, just get that consistency for us.
Thank you. Brock Davis, 13 Gray Farm Road. Um, probably the youngest person at this meeting. Um, at just a recent fresh graduate, I'm looking for places to live, looking forward to have some sort of apartment and housing. And I think Littleton having apartment and housing would be fantastic for me just as with me being in Littleton, central Massachusetts, lots of access to everywhere in Massachusetts as well as up into New Hampshire share with Nasha down in Connecticut if need be. Additionally, um if I remember correctly, the IBM moved out of those buildings sometime during co
four or five years ago. before then. So at least five to six years that that area has mostly been a parking lot with no real use being used for that plot of land. And additionally with the Yangty River Chinese restaurant being torn down, that's an additional plot of land that's not currently being used. So, I think having some sort of use with that land would be beneficial for the town, especially if it's more housing as well as courtyards for community and activities. Thank you.
For our young person here, we've been working on this for six years. Um, and it it was the timing has had a lot to do with the sewer being installed, which only recently, maybe three months ago, December. December. Um, you know, so nothing really could be done until that was complete. Okay. Thank you. Yes.
Gold mystery. I haven't been following this super closely. Um, so if this information information's already been made available, bear with me. I wanted to ask about um the surfaces you're putting down on the outdoor parking um and elsewhere. Are you putting can you put down pvious surfaces? I know you've got a whole drainage plan for the runoff, but are you putting down pvious surfaces materials? We have not proposed all standard asphalt.
And is is that something that is an option that could be pursued? Do you have any other? Um my other question was if I I haven't even explored the website, but if I look there, can I see um how much um police and fire resources this is going to add?
There was this study done when the master plan um approval of 2022. There is that study. Um I can point you to that. If you shoot me an email, I can send you that link. Okay. Because I I think I remember when the point went in, we had to buy a fire truck because we didn't have one tall enough. Paid for it. Fire truck. The developer paid for it. The develop Oh, good. I'm glad to hear that.
We We are not uh proposing any uh payers. Um it is asphalt for the parking lot. Um, as Joe had alluded to, you know, we are going to have to treat the the pre-runoff and, you know, there's no treatment going on right now and so we are treating it and typically you'll use pvious pavers to to lower the amount of drainage that you have to do. We're still able to accommodate what's out there. And, you know, we're really improving the site for the majority of the site. It is asphalt um pavement that does not have clean runoff as I mentioned from the vehicular cars, right? Gasoline, trash, whatnot gets into the the system. So, not only are we going to be treating it, but infiltrating and recharging it into the ground, but we do have asphalt payment. Um, impervious pavers are great when you need to get under a certain ratio. Luckily, we have the treatment capacity on site. Um, they tend to be a maintenance uh nightmare and they always get ripped up by the plows. They work great in in climates where you don't have snow removal. Uh, but up here, it's a constant battle with the plows uh ripping them up. So, we are not proposing them here. I I would just make a comment about while Littleton think properly is well we're unfamiliar with parking garage however it does mitigate 2,000 cars of asphalt which would otherwise be on the site. So you know maybe we'll enjoy as time goes by. Um, anyone else?
Yes. Don, you've already spoken.
Sorry. Uh, Don, 43 Foster Street. I'm also in the sustainability committee and we're quite interested in what you're doing in the residential area. We also have a major meeting going on this evening. So, the people from that committee cannot make it here. Uh but certainly we're work we're working on climate action plan and certainly we're interested in emissions and reducing it and we've recently built or we've proposed to build very energyefficient uh climate uh responsible school. So I I see a lot of areas here where you could introduce something like solar panels. I'm sort of disappointed they're don't include those. I mean certainly solar canopies are a great way of dealing with parking lots and you have all that pavement. You have a garage that's high above high areas where you have solar panels that would not affect other people. You have uh fivetory building. A lot of places you could introduce something that's modern and efficient and I would hope you would come back with some uh movement towards that area. Uh a lot of important things have been raised uh and I don't diminish it that I do have some additional concerns about public access. One of my main concerns is that this is well integrated into the community and we have walkways that would lead to both the point and also towards the school. Uh uh mention a little bit about public transportation. I mean this is an ideal place to have that and I would like to see something in that direction. Uh not only for the two public uh transportation units have been uh the LRTA and something else but also there's act and cross tunnel I mean
cross town uh system so to integrate into the community to reduce traffic. Yeah, because there will be congestion and you know this we really don't know how this is going to work with you your your uh road cuts to King Street and inside a lot of funding has been raised by uh uh our state senator Jamie Eldridge and Representative Jim Marcero to help make this work. A lot of public funding here. We would like to see this work well and I would like to see an integration of how public transportation works with this. A lot of people are going to be there make it a lot easier. We're going to be very congested in the common area if you don't do that. But uh certainly I think more energy efficiency uh we're doing this in all of our town buildings. Uh this is new construction. There's no limitation. Yeah, you have high water, but you have a sewer system. You have a lot of capability here. So, I I would hope you would come back and show some energy efficiency and some uh ways of introducing solar. This is a good example of a building that has been built with that in mind. Our new Shaker Lane school is going to do that. This is new construction. It's one thing you have old construction. and you have to fit things, but this is new construction and needs to introduce some of that. Thank you.
Yes, Judy Reed, resident 3 Pamela Way. Um, I like the new drawings. Um, I think the building looks good. I know that it's down in that gully of the parking lot, so it's not going to be too high. Uh, um, can I move in tomorrow? Um, you're talking a balcony with good view, a swimming pool, a dog park, and plenty of elevators to get up to the fourth floor, fifth floor, whatever that is. Um, I like it. Thank you. Should just walk on quick. Okay. Thank you.
So, one of the things I was going to mention is public access. I hope this isn't exclusive. You know, once again, integrating the community. You see places I I see you have botchi courts with great lawn games, things like that, but I hope that wouldn't be just exclusive to the residents because you want people to mingle. You want part of the community. I look at communities like Gloucester that have Boschy Courts for the public and Stacy Boulevard. Uh they also have tennis courts. Yeah, I see you introduce a number of amenities, but they shouldn't be just exclusive for the people at this uh fivetory uh complex. Yeah. And I realize there's concerns security and loitering and all that. Uh so it's a challenge, but I want it so people can feel comfortable there. You know, you have the retail area that I hope people will walk to and mingle with. uh have friends at the housing area and yeah just be well integrated within the community. That's it. So, Don, the they had that discussed during the um the public amenities in the uh retail pieces there, but every apartment building I know the pool is for the residents of the place there that those are not public spaces and I don't think it's appropriate to ask them to make the normally private spaces of the development
open to the public. Well, I given that they making areas for the public in the other parts of the overall development. So, I think you need to look at the plan as a whole and not just pick them and say that they didn't make the botchi court a public piece because nowhere in Massachusetts, no apartment building I've ever seen, the private spaces are the private spaces for the residents. Well, I can understand Paul that that's a completely different level. I agree. But anyway, I think we need to make sure that we take context of any of our questions here in context of the overall development process here and not try to apply pieces from one part to another part when they seem to not necessarily be the appropriate types of things for it.
We have we haven't yet seen now Don we're cutting you off. We haven't yet seen the town green which may very well have amenities and so that's the appropriate place. I'm suggesting that because you don't really mingle in someone's backyard, which is what you know these things would be. You just don't. I mean, I I can come to your house and hang out. You know, that's not the way it works. But there's a lot of public money being spent here. A lot of concessions here. You have things like lawn and the seapport. You have uh the north end. Yeah. that they're places like
we have that I I'd like to um end um this uh hearing. This hearing is not closed. It will be continued um to the 5th. Yeah. Thursday, March 5th. Um I was just 7 p.m. Okay. I make a motion to continue this hearing March 5th at 7 p.m. in this room. I'm sorry. Are we not going to be discussing the retail? There's another hearing. This is a different hearing. There's several hearings going on tonight. So, thank you. We we we'd like to cut this off so we can go to the
fabulous. Um anyway, so um we let's talk about Okay, let's vote and then I want to talk about Mark. Um do we have a second? I'll second that that we continue. All in favor? I now um we can now begin the peer review process for this phase. Um we have the estimate for the um storm water peer review cover that amount and then we're looking for an estimate for the traffic. Okay.
Now back from vacation and that's um that's the storm water. So, right. And we're hoping to have time for back and forth between now and and the 5th. Okay.
Um Okay. So, next uh it has passed 7:15. So, uh we have a continued public hearing. Uh for the 550 King Street, King Street Common uh there there are three aspects to this. to amend the definitive subdivision, which is a minor, you know, lines on a sheet to uh storm water review and site plan. And we have the architect first organ. Oh,
you raise your hand. I raised my hand so that she would see Okay.
Thank you. Are we uh we good? Um Mr. Mr. Chairman, members of the board, uh Morgan Pearson again, uh with Leoli Companies, uh we're moving on to phase one of the retail part of the project. Um and just as sort of a refresher, and we've talked about this a little bit tonight, started this the master plan process dating back to 2021. I won't run us through all of the years since then. Um this particular phase for site plan review, uh and the definitive subdivision was submitted back in November. Um and and we've obviously been having many meetings since then and which we we greatly appreciate um and thank the board again. Um back in December when we first met, you may recall that I focused on this concept of a balance with the with the retail viability um coupled with the the desire to meet the formbbased code. Since then, we've focused more on listening um and implementing um a lot of what we've heard from the community, from this board. Um and that has iterated over several meetings, including tonight, which we're looking forward to to sharing with the board and the community again. Um as we think about tonight, my you know, in our mind, it's this this idea of moving forward and keeping in mind the bigger picture, which I'll get to uh towards the end, uh after Dave speaks. Um the good news from our perspective is that um and we want to thank uh Green Engineering um Util uh as well as the Littleton Fire Department that through the peerreview process especially for traffic, storm water and fire um we've completed those processes and um we are we've agreed to all of the conditions uh for approval based on the those conversations with uh with the peer reviewers. um regarding traffic, storm water, and Littleton fire. Um again, we we thank everyone for that for
that process. Um on the design side, um obviously we have we're here tonight to share additional feedback. I said this at the last meeting and the meeting before, but we continue to push our team, our design team, uh PCA, Halverson, to uh do everything we can to be responsive to comments from this board, comments from the community. Um, and Dave's going to go through that with you. Uh, but at the end when I come back, I just want to ask that we take a step back and I've been very appreciative of some of the sentiments we've heard tonight in terms of folks kind of taking the bigger picture view of what this project is. We've all been very focused understandably about a lot of the details, but it's worth reminding ourselves um about the bigger picture and and I do want to speak to that a little bit later tonight. Um, so with that, I'd like to hand it over to Dave. He's going to show you, I think, how far we've come. Um, he and the team and I have been really working on illustrating all the changes that have been made um to improve these buildings to be responsive to everything we've heard. So, um, with that, I'll leave it leave it to Dave and uh, I'll be back in a little bit.
Good evening, uh, Mr. Chair, members of the board. Good to be with you again. Um, so just going to take everybody back in time uh to November. Um, just to remind everybody uh what we came in with originally and these uh buildings along King Street. Um 1,200,400500. We've spent you know our time really focused on these uh with you all and with the community to make sure that how this project integrates with the town uh feels right and um and feels very welcoming. uh and it feels active. So these buildings when we came before you um were bigger um than they are now. They this is a diagram just reminding you when we came in we had opaque glass facing the street. We had no entrances. We had um you know very little activity. and we've talked about the challenges and the balance uh along the way about um that and and you've pushed us and and we've and we've moved and uh we continue to move and and bring new ideas forth tonight. Um so the updated design um just you know to remind people these buildings we did quite a bit of gymnastics um to adhere to many of the primary massing dimensions of the uh formbbased code to bring the overall heights down to bring the uh datims of the roofs down we've and to activate uh King Street in addition so tonight we're coming back to show you that we've added even more entries into um this project on each corner of the building on King Street. Um we have uh entries into the retail tenants. Uh all of those locations are activated with um program along the street which you'll see uh in some of the renderings in the site plan.
And um again we've increased the glazing. We have um uh no opaque glazing uh facing King Street anymore. Additionally, uh part of the feedback that we got along the way was to vary the massings, varying vary the roof types and make sure that you we had unique combinations per building, which we have done. So, each building has its own expression. Uh not only does it have its own mass expression, it has its own detail and materiality, which we'll talk about in a moment, but it's important to see that as you go along the street, there is a unique character in each one of these buildings. Um and you know looks it that they've been done they could have been done over time which we know is the intent. Um some comments that we heard these are smaller details but each building actually has different dormer styles. Um the 1200 has smaller dormers using shingle as the material and no shutters on the windows. We've now changed building 1400 uh back to have some uh larger ganged uh shed dormers and those are uh board and bbatton siding um with you know more windows no shutters in that. And then in building 1500 uh we have a different kind of small gable uh dormer with collaborate on the side and those windows all have shutters. So again each building having unique details, different sizes, different articulations, different materials. Um, also it's important to note that each building, while you've seen many renderings and sometimes the detail doesn't come through on the screen, that each building is a different material, which in a rendering program typically blends together a bit, but in reality, uh, each of these materials will read very differently. Um, and again, bring that character through. So 1,200 is
going to be brick. Uh, 1400 will be primary clabboard. and 1500 will be shingle. We've also worked to have a variety of street expression all along these buildings. Uh leveraging a lot of different tools here projecting storefronts, canopies, awnings, and we've also added a new porch which came out of the comments uh from the last meeting. Uh we've added that's a 1200. We'll have a view of that um shortly. And so to take in all these elements and the variety that exists and then layer on the fact that these will be retailers who will bring their own expression through signage and you know accents that there will be a really vibrant character along King's Street day and night. So this is now the new updated proposed uh illustrative site plan. Um we do have Joe here from Halverson who if there are any questions um happy to speak to those. We know it's been a long night, so we're trying to keep it tight. Um, we have a number of things that we've added uh since the last time that we were here, but I also just want to go to this next slides because this is helpful to see everything that we've added since the beginning. So, just to refresh everybody, if you look at the top of the page, this was the original design along King Street of the buildings. Uh, we had some site walls, we had no program, and uh, you know, our pocket park that that we had here was more of a peekaboo than a grand expression. Um, and since we have done uh a ton of work to really change the entire character of King Street, starting on the left at,200, um, let's not forget the the town green is there. It is a monumental asset to this community. More to come, of course, in in coming meetings on that. Uh, but 1200 has a entrance right on the corner facing the green and also a new bike amenity uh on the corner for visitors. As you go to the other corner, we have
the new porch that we've added that has seating, a new entry, uh, landscaping there. Next over, we've raised the sidewalk. That was feedback that we got. We removed parking spaces in this location both to help with cars backing out and to make sure we're avoiding congestion, but also to make a new place to be. Uh, we've added a new entry on that corner. Um, so the outdoor seating, um, the entry, the activity continues. And then mid block on 1400, we've added bike amenity and bench seating. Um, so again, lots of things to do uh along the street. Another new entry added uh on 1400 in this location and the pocket park, you know, from something that was more contained is now, you know, exploding out on the edges uh and wrapping around the corners of the buildings where there's entries and seating. Uh 1,500 again, another new uh entry here. uh and a whole um new plaza in front with outdoor seating uh in this location. So again, we believe that through all the feedback that we've gotten from the community, which we appreciate, and the you know, the commentary that we've had with the board, uh that we have moved the needle extremely far towards the goal of a really active King Street. So, um, moving from here, just to show you, uh, a rendering of the new porch element that we're adding to the edge of, uh, 1200, the new outdoor seating, um, right here, creating an accessible patio. Um, and then just some of the other things that, you know, I've mentioned before, but it's worth bears repeating. you know the varied uh facade materials per building, no opaque glazing. We have outdoor seating. We have entries. We have the variety of frontage types and expressions in each building. We have um reconfigured the masses so that smaller scale elements. We've reduced building
heights. Um so we think that this really uh creates the um what everyone has been talking to us about. um this stretch here looking across the street from the pocket park. Uh you'll see new entry um at the edge of 1400. You know, entries on both sides of these buildings here uh as the pocket park spills out. And again here the just flagging the reduced heights, the variety of dormer expressions. You can see the larger ones here on both sides of 1400. Um 1400 varying the materials, this being the collaborative building. Um, we've added the entry. We've removed the gl uh opaque glazing and and really this this park as it spills out uh is a dramatic change. Uh also you can see the variety of shutter designs that we've added in. Uh and then
is that 550 king? Yes. Yes. You talked about across the street too. That was the mill building. We're not talking about the mill. Okay.
Yes. This is just 550 king phase one retail. Uh and so on this corner of 1500 here uh just you know a new entrance here, a new uh plaza out front uh with seating and again just flat flagging these elevated the sidewalks as we've gone um both at this um site entry point and the previous one between 1,200 and 1400. Um you can see some more shutter designs here um and the shingle build uh the shingle on this building. So again, we think that we have uh continued to push further um and uh be responsive to all the comments that we've gotten to deliver upon uh the vision for King Street um and finding that balance that Morgan spoke to. Um the last thing here is this came up as a question uh I believe um Mr. Mr. Baker, you you might have posed this last time about what um seating is public, what seating is managed by a retailer. Uh so the blue is all areas of outdoor seating uh that are fully 100% public use. uh including the entirety of the town green, which again we'll talk more about in the future, but everything along the pedestrian way within the uh pocket park in the middle, these uh you know, spaces along the street, these um you know, new spaces that we've added, and then the the spaces in red that are adjacent to those entries with the um cafe seating, you know, those would be managed by the the retailer. So, an abundance of public options everywhere on the site. Um, and more to come uh in the green. So, I'm going to flip it back to Morgan to close us up. Let me go back. Thank you. Can I go back, Dave?
Nope. Not that way. Dave, how do I go back? Should go up.
Oh, I don't know how to use apparently. That's That's how it is. Um, thanks Dave. Thank you so much. I mean, I hope people people can appreciate the level of work um the number of changes we've made. We're we will share this presentation and I guess I would just ask or encourage everyone here who is passionate about this project and and the town and wants to understand this to to please go through this. I mean, Dave did a great job of explaining all of those different pieces, but um I I just encourage people to read it closely. um understand it. Look at the the previous presentations. We have I think we have come a a long way. Um and I think what I would just point out and I've said this before is our first presentation we believed in strongly as well. It also came from a place of what will make the retail the most successful. We believe in this as well. We just know the challenge for us to to bring in retailers is just going to be a little bit more difficult. But we have accepted that challenge um in order to work with the community and the board to try to accommodate a lot of the changes and the desires um that the community has and those are those are understandable and I think um we're up for the challenge but it is it is going to be that because of the reasons I think you've heard from our consult our consult our retail expert um at the last meeting. So, um, I say that just because again, Dave does a great job of showing all these changes, but each of these changes were at times excruciating because it meant, okay, well, how are we going to talk to a retailer who has this perfect box they want to put into this thing, but now we're asking them to change their box where they don't have it anywhere else and maybe they have two stores, maybe they have 200 stores, um, maybe it's their first store. So, those are all things that we think about and we don't make the changes lightly. the formbbased code um is not one thing. It is possibly a thousand different things and we are
adhering to so many of them and I and that is something that is not reflected because we focus on the things where we're asking for some some relief but th this team Dave and his team and and our Halverson team have uh bent over backwards this these past few months to to to work their their best to adhere to some of these form based codes. So I just encourage people to to recognize that we started back in 2021 as I've said before. Um and I just would also would like this group and those listening to acknowledge that visions uh evolve through input and in 2021 we presented a vision and that evolved through input from this board from this community um from our design teams from our our our experts on retail and housing. Um, and then it was voted on in 2022 and then again in 2024. Um, I've shown this slide before, but I know there's some folks who are catching up to this project or or just um, you know, coming back to it maybe after some time. This is what was approved in 2024. This is the phase we're talking about tonight. This is this is the exact layout that was approved in 2024. You'll see there's D, G, H, and F there. Those are 1100, 1200, 1300, and 1400. Now, that's what it is right there. That's what it that's what was approved two, three years ago. This is what it's we're showing tonight. Again, we're going to put this online. So the last thing I want to talk about is is as I mentioned before this this idea of the big picture and I won't go through these painstakingly because a lot of them are have already been brought up tonight but we took a big step in submitting for um the residential project 318 units as you've all heard. We talked about the importance of housing um in both this community but also the state um and beyond. Um tax base also has been touched on and and shouldn't be
minimized. Um and and you know happy to speak about that as well. We've also talked about and I and again I appreciate it took some of my uh thunder but this idea of rebuilding the employment base. When IBM left many many years ago they took obviously that a full those full 500,000 square feet of of office space with employees. We are working actively to put shovels in the ground so we can bring employment back to this site and to the town. um this phase of our retail project alone we estimate will bring 200 250 um construction jobs and then once it's built because there'll be restaurants there'll be stores we're we're estimating somewhere around 4 to 500 uh full-time employees just in the retail piece alone that are working here that are taking the shuttle that are taking the train that are biking that are driving the other thing we've heard too and and and I'm I just again this idea of taking to a step back looking at the bigger picture is that the goal here is that the parking lot will no longer be the front door of Littleton. This this sea of parking that it once was. Instead, it's going to be some of the things that you you saw tonight. Things like this here. Here's a look at the town green. Um again, that has been augmented or adjusted significantly based on feedback. And and just as a reminder, we're coming before this board later with a full town green plan. But as a preview, the town green is roughly 33 35,000 square feet. And to give you a sense, I think the on third in Burlington, it's like 12,000 square feet. If you've ever been to Tuscan Village up in um Salem, New Hampshire, it's bigger than that Tuscan Village green up there. Um, so it's substantial and Littleton, uh, if they choose, will have a lot of bragging rights to have such a large town green that is also being integrated thoughtfully with with Halverson with with Joe who's here who lives in the community with the current
common area. So, um, we're excited to show that later, but this this image is just a reminder, um, a reminder of that both of the changes we're making, have made, and and also what what's to come. Uh, and it's no longer a parking lot. The other thing I I would just add going back to my my list here is just this idea that it's not going to be a large-scale warehouse or distribution center and we don't have to rehash that, but that was certainly something that was an option here many many uh moons ago and this is great. They weren't that's that's not happening. Um extending the vibrancy to downtown. I don't want to minimize that, but there's other businesses downtown now that will benefit from the the traffic that we bring to both traffic, vehicular, bike, pedestrian to this area. Um, and we've talked extensively during this process about the off-site improvements, both pedestrian and vehicular. And and again, um, Mr. Sanders spoke about the the sewer treatment, wastewater treatment plant, which which was a good reminder. So um that that is how you know you know we motivate every every week to make these changes to um to get excited about what can what can happen here. And so u again I just want to thank you uh all for for your time in this special meeting. Um and as a refresher we we have some of these incredible photos that we really hope we're able to build with your approval. Thank you.
We're going to go through the board. One of the outstanding issues from last meeting was the fire truck access. We have a very detailed uh report. Did someone look at the site plan and tell us about what we're doing for that? It didn't seem like it changed very much. Yeah. Alex the plan and you can speak to it.
The illustrious sh while Dave's getting that pulled up. Alexer the TEC civil engineer for the project. Um so as you know from the last meeting, last hearing, we've uh coordinated with the fire department and their peer reviewer code red. Um and if I can go to the screen. Um so the the the major change for the project that we so just because just because we we hadn't had that initial um uh review with the fire department. Uh we we did look at it. We did coordinate it. So that's why you didn't see a lot of changes for the radius, but in fact we we widen um some turn radiuses on on this driveway and on this side. You can see this was a little bit more flared out than this side. So that that's a minor change that that um was accommodated. But the biggest change was uh life safety access from either side of this pedestrian corridor. You can see that um there's no longer those permanent trees tree uh beds in that that area and all those are removable removable features now. And um we also widened the the access to turn a fire a ladder truck onto that that raised area on either side. So we've widened that access. You can see that raised uh crosswalk is actually quite a bit wider than the previous version. So that's those were the major changes from the result of the the fire review and code red review.
Thank you. And all the reviewers are satisfied with these changes at this point. Yes, sir. Um, were there any further um peer review outstanding items? There were several um suggested conditions of approval um the latest uh just from this afternoon um from the traffic peer review. Okay. And we've agreed to all of them just for no disagreement on any of um Okay. board. Any further questions, comments?
I think it looks great. I think they um put more I like the idea of more um doorways at on King Street. Uh makes it look I think the buildings look great before. I think they're looking better now. I like the different uses of material there. So, it breaks it up. We're still not going to have parking over there. So, it's um it's a a nice compromise to try to uh make the make that part of King's Street book um more accessible. That's I think they did great a good job listening.
Well, I I second that. I I like the doors entrances on the corners of the buildings because that sort of makes the turn from the King Street onto those driveways to go in. I think that's Yeah, I I too like the uh updates you got design and and the work that's been put into the into as I say the whole project uh there. It's not you know I know it's got it different phases but looking at it as a whole and that it all integrates well together I think is is good and I like what I saw tonight.
Since most of the work has been done along King Street, I'll just make a couple comments. Thank you for my porch. And I really like the idea of elevating the sidewalk on the upper part of the thing to separating it from the street. Um I think that will go a long way toward making it a more pleasant um experience. So those are our comments. Yes, George. Mr. Chairman, members of the board, ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for giving me an opportunity here tonight to speak on this project. First and foremost, I am a person that like to do things right. I think we have an obligation as a town and this board to do right by the town people and do right by the developer. I want to say to this development, this team that you have here, they have did a superb job in my opinion with regards to the comments that's been given to them. They've acted upon them. They've done things that the board has
asked and also the vision that the developer had. He made changes. The letter that I sent to you on February the 4th, I sent that letter to the develop as well because I think that effective communication is 50% to the solution of any problem. As you well know, I pointed out things in there that I thought should be better, especially those buildings with the back. He changed that. Now we got a front showing to King Street. now and the doors that's been put in. I am very pleased that my communication did not fall on their ears with that developer. And I want to thank this team here tonight for the effort that you put forth in carrying out what we in Littleton saw a need to be adjusted. You adjusted and I thank you for that. And as far as I'm concerned, Mr. chairman and the members of this board, you should give this develop the nod on that first phase at 550 Kane Street. I think it's welld deserving. I think they've done what you've asked them to do and what we as citizens have asked them to change the look of what King Street should look like. I think it's important to know that he
spent a lot of money in this town and hasn't did anything for himself at 550. We know that once he gets going whatever needs to be done that you're going to ask him with the other phase of whatever they're going to do the same thing that they done for phase one. They're going to try to adjust and please because he wants a good pull with the citizen here in the town of Littleton. He told that to me himself. And he's also going to come on my TV show. And he's going to tell the town about the future project at 550 up there to let the people know that he cares and he wants to do what's right. This is important to him. Very important to him. and I appreciate him and I appreciate you as his team. Thank you, Mr. Chim.
Thank you, George. Um, George, that was less than four minutes. Good.
Yes, Mark. Mark Granbacher 205 Heartwell. I wanted to thank you guys. I that the presentation from phase one to phase two was a huge change and well very well done and phase three is even better. I'm really pleased with this. Um my one question, I know the state has said we can't put parking along 110. There's been talk about whether we should take over the road and allow us to do that. the way it looks on phase three, the the renderings, it doesn't look like even if we took over 110, we could do it. You're too close. So, um I'm just wondering if we're still want a long-term plan or we should be doing that or not not not taking over the road, but if in the long term, we think parking would be beneficial there and we're continuing to pursue it. Then maybe you need to change your plan slightly or we just are saying no, it's never worth putting parking there. We're going to give that up. Um, so,
so Mark, uh, Jim, are you still here? I I know it's a process to go through. He sort of initiated the process with the state, but we would have to as a town vote to take care and control. I I understand all of that, but what I'm and I understand it would be a long process and we may wanting to do it regardless what's going on with parking there or not. My question is the design. It looks like the buildings are so close to King Street. If we are if we decided to put parking there, there is no I think that's fair. However, there's the next phase of retail.
So, the question is more should we move those buildings back from King Street 12 ft or whatever so that we could put parking there in the future or we're deciding it's a lost cause. We just wanted to show we did do a diagram that it is possible. You're rendering it. The the it's Yeah, it's not coming up on screen. It's But the pictures you showed here, the buildings, they showed it right on top of the sidewalk. So this is this is that those buildings and we have overlaid and again because of the nature of this display, it's clear over here. Okay. There's a way. Now you're obviously moving some curves. You're probably Yeah. Yeah. I understand there's a lot of work that would require. We have left room so it's possible. Yes.
Your pictures, your um your renderings show it really close though. That's that's all I'm saying. Yeah. Yeah. So it's confusing. It's it's fair. And I mean I would just I would just tell you we have done a study. We are accommodating for the space should that happen. It will change the character but it doesn't change like where we've integrated. I'm not advocating for or against it. I'm not saying if we are thinking we would want to do it in the future. Your pictures that show the buildings, the fake buildings, show them really close and doesn't make it possible. Thank you.
Jim, do you want to speak to this briefly about the process of taking over the roads from the state?
Um, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um well we going to have our initial meeting with the department of transportation on next Wednesday uh where we will get the determination on uh the process uh and looking for a timeline to report back to um uh the planning board and the select board to and also well also would we need to make sure the determination of DOT's willingness to that they're interested in in doing this. There's other factors. We also have to take into consideration the financial implications it would have on the town for care, custody and control of that and um we will be exploring similar situations in other communities and I believe West Actton has been recently referenced that uh I will be talking to the administration there and uh with Stephen Ali to be discussing with the DPW uh team in in in actton also. Thank you. Um
Yes, sir. Yes.
Hi. Um Marggo Bloomstein. I live at 7 Wilson Lane. Um, thank you very much for so many of the changes that we've seen tonight and I think that we've continued to see over time. Um, it's good to see progress. Um, I think it's we sometimes treat progress like this sort of like asmmptoic thing that we're we're reaching toward this goal and never actually trying to meet it. And I think we can go further to actually meet it. Um, so I know that we've been frustrated. I think the board has heard frustration from many people in town. I know you've heard our frustration um about seeing oversized buildings uh like this mall of large national retailers that seems to scorn our formbased code. Um, so I wanted to to remind us of that and kind of bring us back to why we're here. And I just wanted to open with um well, I'll I'll read this quote. Um, we wanted to integrate with the commons, uh, because Littleton created a master plan with some ideas of various small shops and small entrepreneurs that are creating a connection with the common, a walkable kind of thing. And I think that sounds great. Um, that isn't what we've seen over like the past month where we were pushing to say, why aren't these buildings facing the common? And I will also say those are not my words. That's what Salupily said to us um at the August 11th, 2021 joint meeting of the select board and planning board. Um and then uh a Littleton resident, Sharon Shannon McNelte of 29 Ernie Drive, she asked him, you know, how can you be certain that this won't be just another commercial site that remains vacant? And he doubled down. He said, we're going to focus on small businesses and helping them grow. Um Rick Fryberg, TEC's CEO
and president, I believe, um also echoed that. He said, "We view really activating King Street. We view this area as a place where there's service type amenities like a doctor's office, a place to get ice cream, have coffee, maybe civic uses, and you'll see some really New England style architecture because what we're trying to do is borrow from the formbbased code that was put in place, that Littleton put in place. We want to capitalize on that character, the surrounding neighborhood and some of the older style architecture. The goal is to activate King Street. Again, that's what he told us in August of 2021, so that there's a natural connection to the common because we view that as the face of the site, the face of the property and the heart of the village. He also said that it's important to identify that existing character that's on the site today. That's the Tuttle House and the surrounding space around it, a beautiful park. The Tuttle House is a nice property and in our mind we look at that and say it's an asset that serves us well as a sort of interface with the town common and our plan is to preserve that space the way it is, not move it for some kind of artificially created green. Um, and then after they spoke, we also heard the words, "It's a great place to start working on revitalizing our common using our formbbased code." Mark, you had said that and thank you. We think that that's great and we haven't seen that over over the past few months of meetings um and deliverables. Now, when we talk about the formbbased code um as you know, I'll just share it for other folks that are here maybe newer to it. We developed that Littleton developed that working with a paid consultant over 18 months and we passed that with overwhelming support of our town, the fire chief, planning board, etc. at our 2020 town meeting, it was ratified by law um reviewed by the
attorney general. And I keep going back to that our form-based code because it's not just a recommendation or a wish list, but it's a bylaw of the town um that the town worked hard to develop working with UTIL um one of the the reviewers on this plan. And it focuses on creating a walkable mixeduse common a compact common area with design standards for building height placement and architectural features that create a historically appropriate human scale town center. In putting that together, in developing that code, we are essentially codifying or putting into law here are the things that help us envision the future for Littleton. These are our priorities really. And that bylaw specifies buildings of no more than a certain size layout with facades that face King Street. Um and then furthermore in the June 2024 amended master plan, the special permit there, it says that all provisions of the dimensional requirements and design standards will remain applicable. And I keep saying that this is a law because as a code, as a bylaw, it is not simply a guideline to which we should try to aim close to and hope we'll get there. You know, kind of shoot for the moon and land in the stars. We need to hit that because that is our law that is legally binding um and codifies the thing the priorities of the people of Littleton. Deviation from that requires a waiver. Um, and I know you've submitted that application. That's supposed to be a temporary exception due to conditions that the board recognizes. Um, and remedying those conditions through a waiver needs to be mutually beneficial to the contractor that is
applying for it and the municipality in which they seek to do business. And I think if you're granting a waiver, it needs to be beneficial to us, too. Because with the formbbased code, the people of Littleton decided, we put into words, we put into our law, not just a wish list, but what is beneficial to us to extend our common, not have some kind of like altern. You keep talking about that as this great public space, but we have a public space um with a long authentic history because it's been there a couple centuries that's still used today for rallies and for when we do like lighting up for for Christmas and lighting the Hanukkah monora and all. We have that kind of common space and we want to extend it with human scale growth that fits with our history, not kind of ignores it, but goes back to that New England style architecture, the formbbased code, um the character of that the older style architecture that incorporates that architecture like Mr. Fryberg said. And when we said we wanted pedestrianfriendly development that addresses residential needs and affordable housing and extends the common um we're we're trying to honor that space that we have, not create this other closedin enclave. And I know you'd said, you know, you never see apartment complexes where as a private space that allow the public to use their amenities, but there will be amenities here for the public. Um, I saw a little bit of kind of common public seating area on King's Street, but it's mostly kind of back in that enclave or on the green, I guess.
Still want to see that there are public restrooms as a baseline public amenity for the public to use. We want to make sure that we are extending the the common space that has served us literally for centuries as a town common. Um because waiverss to the code undermine the benefits that Littleton citizens prioritized when we put that together and um Lei has laid out why you need the waiverss and I see what's in it for them. Um, knowing that the planning board operates on our behalf as citizens, um, and looks out for Littleton's best interest, I want to know that if we are giving up elements of our form-based code, what's in it for us? Like, I'm not seeing like the public botchi courts or public swimming pool or I don't know if like the dog park was was public as well. um or or public restrooms in this new kind of mini mall that's been created as with this alternative green. Um because if you're asking us to trade our code and our common for this alternative common and towering buildings and generic mall architecture that is frankly everywhere and could be anywhere. I'm happy to see features that do feel more of us now. So, thank you for that. Um, but I do ask the planning board to reject any waiverss and please hold loopy to our form-based code. Thank you.
Anything else?
Yes. below Lohan Street. Uh I never having been president at the birth of form base code in town and helped shepherd it through the process. I never viewed it as shall we say a cure to all of Littleton's aspirations. Um it is quite flexible. It's intended to be um and matter of fact the elements are very well defined as lut as util masterfully demonstrated and to to the extent that they could the development team has responded. Now not all of us may like the result. However, it comes as close unless we can come up with a reason why and how such changes would be made to make it more conforming. However, since I live so close to the site, maybe I have a somewhat different view. Unfortunately, I'd like to have your view. I'd like to have even George's view because as far as I'm concerned, the beer problem in the common at this point is that this development is the least of your worries. It's the two gasoline stations. Nothing against wrong retail entrepreneuring. Really, this is not an attack on the owners or the folks who do do that. But you have two gasoline stations sitting there along with some other stuff that basically has not changed in the 20 years that I've been here and shows no sign of it yet. And until it does,
formbbased code will have no effect whatsoever. But can I I can assure you that if the which I would say the sweep of King Street at its intersection with Great Road was available to shall we say to be recreated in a different form form based code would play a very significant role and may would have affected perhaps this development but it didn't. So when we say integrated into the rest of the town or we want to have this project integrated into the rest of the common to me the common still remains gasoline station gasoline station liquor store very small bizarre traffic pattern. It is unfinished business. the common what they're doing. Keep in mind they have a captive market. It's the 350 the the folks who are going to occupy the rentals and anyone else who wants to shop in the area. Anyone else who wants to shop. I'd like to point out that retail area with those three comp units. We can argue over this appropriate size. Which brings me to the unanswered question is how did the size of those units come to be what they are? Is it based on a real financial analysis on the realities of what Littleton really is or is it wishful thinking on the part of planners? I don't know. All I can tell you is the information I've been trying to get paints a somewhat different picture. But I don't it's you know I don't get paid to do this. you do. So I'd like to ask are the you mentioned this sort of you mentioned it here in passing and to me this is more
significant perhaps than than formbbased code whether you're using it the right way or not and that is do you have the evidence that suggests why those three buildings at those particular sizes because it seems to be driven by okay we want to have a retail center here because And without if you can do it without divulging the the secret sauce of the business model by which you operate which by the way is not easy to operate. You're an investment house. You have stockholders who want to be shall be paid at the end of the month or the end of the year. So there's a generation of capital here. Totally appreciated. So it would be very helpful if the leader of the team here could at least provide some background to understand not so much that I'm against the three buildings or that everyone in town is against the three buildings. It's the expectation that's that at the moment main somewhat obscure of what those three buildings really represent in terms of retail success and utility. If those buildings are made smaller, that opens up moving further away perhaps from King Street, for example. Who knows? You may have done that calculation, said if we do that, the kind of retail folks we want in here won't come. We have to settle for something else. High risk, can't afford to do I I mean, I'm making this up. I have no idea what went into this. So, I would appreciate and I don't know if there's anybody else who would. The size that you've got here is interesting from my point of view given what my peculiar picture is of where Littleton fits into the retail market which to me includes
not just Littleton, it includes every town around us with which we integrate with. So it's the so any information you can share that isn't generalities like well if we I I'd really like to understand those the size and what you have in mind
sure thank you I appreciate that
um I want to respond to that but I I have to just respectfully quibble with one thing which is that we are a investment firm with stockholders uh we are very proudly a family business. We have one of the family members here, which is pretty unique, I think, in this business, a company of our size, just being um actual family um that lives very close by. So, I'm going speak to a bunch of things that you that you asked about and then I also want our our design team um Dave Snell to to speak on it as well because his company um does a lot of things very well, but one of the things they do the best is is retail. Um, I think if we take away 550 King Street for a second and just talk about retail, it is a very formulaic business where they want boxes. The retailer is the end user. It's it's it's different than when we think about multif family, but they want a specific box they can fit their model into. And if you may remember, and I'm not sure if you were at the meeting, but we brought in our retail expert who all he does is live and breathe and own retail uh centers around the country and and regionally. But one of the things he spoke to is these groups, whether whether you're a dry cleaner, that's a local group, or even sometimes a liquor store, or you're Lululemon, you have a formula, which is really a defined box. We want the depth to be this much. We want the width to be this. We want visibility from the street. We want foot traffic. We want parking. All these things have to check boxes. And if you don't check them, good luck. You we'll go somewhere else. We have all the options in the world. When we think about a clean slate, you look maybe at the point, and I don't want to beat on the point, but it you you go to a a very formulaic strip with parking in front and you enter in and out, and that works for and you get you get to attract a lot of different tenants. because of of of this board, because of this community, we were asked to approach it from a form-based code.
So, we had to sort of adapt that formula into these shapes and these these size buildings that could in a way be responsive to that formulaic requirement from the different retailers. Um, in addition, we introduced this pedestrian path that is that is reminiscent and somewhat inspired by Patriot Place. Also, we happen to be in downtown Salem today. There's other examples where it's there's a pedestrian path and there's retail on every side and how do we make that successful? Um, the last piece and then Dave, please, you know, correct me as you like, is this idea of future tenants, which is not all of these tenants are going to survive forever. As we all know, we've all seen tenants turn over. So then the question is, do you sit with an empty space or are you attractive enough? Have you designed, we'll call it a mouse trap that is good enough that the next person you can fill that space quickly and keep the the the retail surviving? Because we've all seen those those strip centers or those other places where one retail dies and the other then the other and it just death spirals and there's no coming back and you have to either start over or it's it's it's dead. We're not in that business as you can imagine. That's not the aim of this. So those are all the factors that that that informed us on creating these different boxes and also informed where windows go where informed where doors go and the the the height of the ceilings. So um that I hope is somewhat informative but Dave please um please maybe you can speak better than I.
No no that's good.
I mean I think the other thing is of course you know um you know Jeremy spoke to this but I think some of your question is sometimes like is the market big enough? Is there go is this going to succeed? And there has been a ton of research that I think our team has done and has have already talked to many tenants about you know this site and and the um desiraability of it. So I just want to say like we do believe that the retail uh retailers of not just national people but and and you heard Jeremy talk about this previously we do want uh this to be a mix of local and regional and national people. And what's important when you design uh centers like this is as Morgan mentioned, yes, there's there are dimensional requirements. There's a there's general depths that under which you can't make it work. Um and the depth is, you know, 70 feet is usually um you know, a key number in retail. And um you know, so most retailers when we do these centers, they want to be 70, 80, 90, 100 feet. Um, so when we do large master plans, a lot of our buildings are much bigger. Um, these are by far the smallest uh multi-tenant buildings that I've worked on uh across our portfolio. And the the long-term viability has a lot to do with what Morgan said. Our ability to retenant this in the future in different configurations internal to these buildings is key. the ability to take a larger chunk of space and chop it up to be one tenant or two or three or four. What that allows for is that long-term vitality so that let's say we have a big user that goes out of business uh and no other big users are in town. We can subdivide that space into two and still make it work. And so that is a big part of making sure that this is vibrant not just today but tomorrow. And you know, I can tell you we've done many successful retail
centers. Um, we've done things like the point, but we've also done these these mixeduse integrated things. And, you know, we've learned over time that that flexibility and those dimensions are key to really creating a healthy um a healthy community here. And so, you know, the last thing I'll just I'll just leave you with is that um you know, I know we talk about boxes and yet and there are many different kinds of retailers that we can imagine being here and that we have talked to. Um the we need to make sure that we are adaptable um and flexible and can work with their requirements. But as Morgan said, you know, even people doing their first stores, I mean, I work with a lot of entrepreneurs trying to find their first location. And even that is extremely difficult for people to find space, space that's adequate, space that is actually something they they can do their thing in because a lot of what's out there is not really suitable. It's not set up for this. Um, so you know, I' I tour spaces with uh, you know, retailers a lot and there's just a lot of challenges with everything when you have product like this that's set up by people who know what they're doing that is set up with the functionality, the infrastructure, the electrical, the HVC, all the things that you need. Um, you know, you can attract a wide variety of people. And the last I keep on saying the last but there's one more part of this which is you know the facads and the articulation that you are all aspiring to and that we have layered onto these buildings that does not come without considerable expense on the developers part. I've worked on many projects in which the retailer brings their prototype language and slaps it on there. We're not allowing that here. We've, you know, set up a scenario where they can do their signage, but we have articulated this language. So, you're not going to see,
you know, Sephora, black and white, stripe, uh, you know, wild thing coming in here. And that's intentional. And it it you don't see things like this because you don't have, uh, towns in a process like this. There is a lot that's going into this that is unique. And uh we've said that word before and it you know can sometimes be uh assumed like we're just throwing it out there but it is true. You don't see something like this. It's going to be special and it's not I hate it when people say mall. I don't think that this will ever feel like that. What you see in these renderings is what we're aspiring towards. It is walkable. It is welcoming. It is all kinds of retailers, services, food, um all these different uses. And to get that mix together, to get that density of people, um, you need this flexibility, you need these footprints, and you need these sizes. And, um, and we're hoping that all the compromises that we made, you know, while Morgan said it'll be a little bit cha more challenging, you know, we're committed. We're on, you know, we're up to it and we're going to make it happen.
Thank you. Okay. Um, we're approaching a three-hour meeting. Uh so let's um please we want everyone to speak but uh not necessarily reiterate what has been said before. Anyway, go ahead.
So at the last meeting we um oh Kimarn uh 40 Foster Street. So at the last meeting we talked um quite a bit about Weston Village and comparing this project to it. Well, I happen to be the landscape architect for that and I worked with the architect a lot. Um and I just wanted people to see I this is really old school. I did this in 2009. So bear with me. But I wanted you to see the difference in the scale of the building and I of the streetscape. This is West Actton Village and I outlined in black the different buildings along there. These are the buildings that are going to go on King Street. They're both at 1 in equals 20. The amount of um retail and uh office space here is 50,000 square feet. It's a lot of lot of um square footage, but the way it's configured is much different than what we're going to have on King Street. If I think they've done a lot of good um interesting changes, but I think they could push it a little farther. and bring it more in line with what is working really well in West Actton where the buildings aren't all so evenly in even in size. They could be broken up a bit more like um Jesse Yang mentioned uh
her peer reviewer uh last week. And I think the success of this would be so much better if it was just pushed a little farther in the design. Um, I appreciate all the work that the developer and the team has done, but I think there's one more level that the board could ask them to go through. Um, and you you look at that. Have you noticed that the buildings that are going on King Street are three times as big the area that they're going on? That's the issue with the formb. That is a huge property. Have to put and you can't put tiny little buildings. No one will go in those. They just go in.
You have an ice cream shop. One one other comment. Could you point out which buildings were existing because several of those buildings were existing. Right. So this is the church at the end and it's which is now like a community center. Yeah, it's an after school Danny's place it's called.
Then here this was existing. This is the act and seafood and there's a yoga studio up and uh upstairs and downstairs. This is the ice cream store that was here. Um this is an office building. Um so the developer actually has an office on site and he's the one that still brings in the different works with the different companies um stores and so forth. So there he assures there's a good mix. It's not all banks or whatever. Um this gift shop here um I believe this is the new building. There's a new building behind here and this act coffee house is the new building. So that what what they're showing is like a performing arts center or something. It's actually the office building.
They were going to have this, but the town said it was too big. So that was what isn't shown there is the there's a large office building. I guess my point is is that yes, we we're dealing we have an existing condition of a 20,000 car parking lot. We do not have an existing condition of a beautiful old church. uh several old structures and um it's I appreciate this but it's just not apples to apples.
I think you can use that as a model though doesn't have to be all size all so evenly uh spaced so evenly in uh done in size. it's a design um method or you could push the design further. I think you're an architect, you know, I am you could push it through.
But I also know there's imperatives. I think they've been very eloquent about their imperatives of getting tenants because the tenants that are there, there's a ice cream shop, there's a little, you know, there's a coffee shop. I mean, there's the brew brewery, but there's, you know, it's it's lovely. I I you know, I I love the work there. It's just not comparable to this site. Respectfully disagree that you can use some of the what's what's right. I'm not saying
I may I may not disagree with you either, but we have a development proposal where they've they're putting their money to build something that they want to be successful. But I think it's the board's uh I think your job is in a way to push the developers to do even better than what they might be proposing and what the town's people are asking. Job is also to make sure that it's viable, that you don't have empty buildings. Well, that's I think that would be fine. I think you'll still have buildings that can work, but just in a bit of a different configuration.
I don't think you can find a million Starbucks and a million little coffee shops or uh juice places that are going to fill those big coffee shop. You need big tenants. You need big restaurants and things like that. The point that's fine. Tavern on the square couldn't fit it over there.
Restaurants like that. It's just not big enough. Well, any thank you. I appreciate it. It's actually um I'm glad to know that you did West acting because it's very nice project. Anything else? Rob 25 Juniper Road. I think this was a uh the best constructive meeting. So, kudos to you. Kudos to to you. And quite frankly, kudos to the public. I think is I've left previous meetings pretty frustrated not feeling that way tonight. I feel there's like been good communication etc. Uh I'd like to go to one this is an extra one. I agree with the apples to apples. I wish
but I don't think it's viable. Yeah. Um but I wish Yes.
two Mark Ronburgger's question. I was satisfied with the answer. I thought you answered very directly. appreciate that direct answer that the parking on King Street could happen. The question I find myself wanting to know I ago thought maybe I should ask it privately but I'd rather find out can you wait because you've presented us with this is your first retail you know phase so can you wait for what I believe I'm hearing of two years possibly more for you know DOT transition I know that the situation you're dealing with with regard to we need to not just activate King Street, we need to activate this retail base. Town needs the money, we need the jobs, we need the housing, we need all of it and we need it now soon. As soon as you can get on with it and so my question is is it viable? because if it's if it's not viable, I think that was yes, it's a Mark's question like let's not pursue things that are contrary to what seemingly fits as a partnership. So, thank you.
So, unfortunately, Mark had to leave uh for other uh things here, but I've been talking to him about the timelines the town is already facing for even the minor changes they're trying to get accomplished on Great Road. The simple thing of making it so that it's not a 50 mph zone and a 45 mph zone and maybe even extending the 25 mph zone has been five plus years in the works and the signs still haven't changed. So I don't think from my perspective as a regulatory board trying to impose something that's got such an unknown deadline or timeline is is something that I'm not comfortable talking you know about because we could be waiting 5 years before the state decides that yes you could we'll consider giving up the road to you and then as the uh town administrator said we still then have to be prepared to pick up the cost of maintaining all of that road that gets turned over to us of which it's a major highway. It's a major thoroughway um on it. So given all of those unknowns, I'm not comfortable asking somebody to wait it out cuz we they could be waiting forever and we are still left with nothing but two jumbo parking lots on King Street and I can't see us waiting for something and watching a parking lot still sit there. So for the record, I agree and I appreciate again that's part of where I think this meeting you're listening and we're getting a collective set of responses. Some of us may not like what those responses are, but we're moving towards I hope closure.
Tell you my opinion and where I'm sitting at relatively but what I would say is that there is further retail. I mean this is half of what the projected further retail is and so any work done toward this care and control and it's been pointed out to me that the town may not want to even take the ex you know take up the expense of it you know after all this work. So yes um anything else? Yes. Yes. I'm Kathy Kristoff. You have to bend that down a little bit.
Kathy Kristoffic, 190 Avenue. Um, you know, I think about the 18 months that we put into formed based code. Formbbased code covers a certain area. Okay. So, it covers this development, but it also covers the rest of the common. When we grant waiverss to formbbased code for one developer, what does that say to other potential people who want to come along and develop in this area in this in this zone? Okay, that's my concern. Um that we're going to have, you know, we we made these codes and these these strictures for the benefit of the town's people, okay? and this is what we want. This is what we want. And for the developer to come in with this plan that absolutely blows it out of the water and then say, gosh, we'll make some, you know, uh, adjustments to it. Is kind of insulting really.
It really is. I think you know you came in in 2021 with a plan that said this is going to be mostly residential with auxiliary retail and now all of a sudden it's not. It's this huge retail development and that's not Littleton. You're making a little a little, you know, al cove of of retail of giant retail. Um, and and that's that's not what you sold us in 2021 and 2022. And that that insults me because we you should start with the law as it's made, okay? And not say we're going to do it this way and then come back and and you know, say no, we're going to do it with these huge buildings, right? And oh, when you make the the adjustments, we're supposed to be grateful.
I that I would ask you not to grant these these exceptions for this developer because then we've got the, you know, the rest of the the common to consider. Thank you.
There was one more. Yeah. Erica Huggornney, Six Fox Lane. Um, I first started coming to the meetings because I was really upset when I saw the backs of buildings facing King Street and what looked like three big warehouses sitting on King Street. Um, I actually think you've done a really great job with the changes. Um, I I feel like we've been listened to. When I see shingles on buildings, that says New England to me. I've grown up here. Um, when I, you know, when I see all the different roof lines, I think Cape Cod, rambling Cape Cod that's been built onto generation after generation, right? That's that's what I was looking for. And I think that's what our form base code was meant to look like. And I do think we have to be a little bit flexible because this is a different space than most of what our common is. Most of the common I think can fit into exactly what our formbbased code is because we're talking about one row of buildings that is on King Street that is facing the street that is small buildings. Um I do think this is the exception. I like that. I think it's going to be walkable. I think it's going to be more walkable than anything else
is currently in the common. Um, we don't generally walk in the common. Um, and I I can't wait to go to a restaurant and then walk to a store and maybe walk and get an ice cream and whatever. I think that will be great. Um, I do hope that you're hearing that we want local stores. I, you know, I don't need another tavern in the square. I don't need, you know, like we don't need the big restaurant chains and the big um, retail chains. We'd really like some small stores. We'd really like some local restaurants. you know, I think that would go a long way into really endearing yourself to this community. Um, but I thank you for the changes you've made.
That being said, thank you for all the comments tonight. Darl, you wanted to um Yeah. So, I'd like to um continue this hearing until meeting of 5th. March 5th. At what time? At what time? So it could be destroyed early 6:35 640. Okay. Okay. And with the um having moving more towards having finalized documents uh finalized memorative agreements or any other um you know terms and conditions uh that we would need to be considering at that meeting. Thank you. Uh can I have a motion?
I'll second that. I'll make a motion that we have uh con uh discussion between continuous but have the discussion between the public and town council that we work on approval actually vote on hopefully next week next month. Okay. Um second second. All in favor? I I like to thank everyone, all the professionals here, all the citizens here. Um, and uh, let's get back. We're done.
This transcript was automatically generated from the official public meeting video and is presented unedited. It reflects remarks made on the public record by elected officials, staff, and public commenters. Transcript accuracy may vary; view the original recording for reference.