News

As a Littleton Planning Board public hearing nears for a requested excavation permit for a gravel pit, some abutters are contesting the Littleton Zoning Board of Adjustment’s April 11 approval for a special exception to allow commercial excavation in a rural zone.

On Monday, three days before the 30-day appeal period ended, Mary and John Polaski and Boris Melomedov, all Bethlehem residents who live near the Littleton town line and the site of the project, filed a motion for a rehearing. . .

The project has galvanized dozens of abutters and area residents in opposition, some of whom say gravel has already been excavated for the past few years without a permit and has resulted in nuisances that include noise.

As for the special exception, the Polaskis and Melomedov “assert that the ZBA’s decision is unlawful and unreasonable because it is not in harmony with the zoning ordinance, it is unsupported by the evidence presented by the applicant, it includes no conditions that would protect abutters from the impacts of the proposed use, and the ZBA failed to provide the required notice to the town of Bethlehem,” wrote Sheridan Brown, attorney for the three petitioners.

LITTLETON — The Littleton Planning Board on Tuesday concluded that the gravel pit located at 173 Alder Brook Road and accessed through the town of Bethlehem constitutes a project of regional impact. . .

Going forward, two opposed abutters, Mary and John Polaski, of Bethlehem, have enlisted an attorney, Sheridan Brown, who on Tuesday submitted to town planners a petition with the signatures of 80 “abutters and concerned citizens” and towns of residences listed as Littleton, Bethlehem, Whitefield, Dalton, Lancaster, and Lisbon.

In a letter to planners, Brown asked the board to reject Crowe’s earth excavation permit application as incomplete, arguing that the permit under New Hampshire RSA 155-E cannot be issued by the planning board until the project receives the required state permits . . .