When Gov. Mitt Romney returned to Massachusetts after attending the Super Bowl, his first stop was Doug Foy's office, his smart growth chief.

"Please don't let us become Houston," the governor pleaded. "They have the worst sprawl I've ever seen."

Bob Zimmerman of the Board of Health told that story to the selectmen Monday night to show that the governor is clearly in the smart growth corner. "It's a process near and dear to his heart," Zimmerman said.

So much so, that Romney will appear today at noon at the Fay Park gazebo [at Littleton High School auditorium in case of rain] to announce a unique partnership between the town and the Office of Commonwealth Development headed by Foy and established by Romney. The partnership will offer state money for the exploration of "smart growth" initiatives based in Littleton.

Smart growth could be defined as development designed to minimize dependence on automobiles and maximize existing and underutilized infrastructure, and infrastructure investment, while preserving critical environmental areas and places of natural beauty.

Zimmerman, who is director of Charles River Watershed Association, has been working with Foy to promote Littleton as a smart growth model. The town is ideal because of its proximity to major roads and commuter rail and it has town hubs - such as the Common and depot areas.

In its semi-rural character, Littleton has not yet entered the realm of near-sprawl, as in Acton.

"I love leaving Acton and getting into Littleton, and seeing fields and forests, not pizza places," Zimmerman said.

Zimmerman described to selectman a cornerstone of the state-town partnership, funding for an integrated wastewater management planning study.

The idea is to identify areas where mixed-use density is desired and then design a sewer system and treatment plant to accommodate it, while being aware of such problems as local soil that is widely unsuitable for septic leach fields, he said.

Selectman Reed Augliere asked Zimmerman, if the town sewers for water quality, how does it keep from enabling the type of development it wants to prevent?

By state law, a homeowner has to tie in to a gravity-fed sewer line that passes by his or her house, Zimmerman said. The way to avoid that is to use forced mains, a pressurized line with a specific capacity, generally much smaller than a gravity-fed line, but more expensive, depending on how many gallons of effluent have to be pumped.

"I'm not in favor of sewering the town. This is spot-sewering in certain areas of interest to the town," Zimmerman said. "I'm very interested in protecting the open village atmosphere to the extent that I can."

It would be sensible to incorporate into the study densely residential parts of town that have problems with wells, mounded septic systems, and concrete retaining walls, Zimmerman said.

"Some homes end up looking like the Alamo," especially in the Long Lake neighborhood where land for septic systems is scarce, Zimmerman said. "We should look at extending forced mains into those areas."

Zimmerman said it would be important to have public meetings to communicate with residents.

Selectman Paul Glavey thanked Zimmerman for "promoting the town in high circles."

The next step is for the Board of Health and Savas Danos, general manger of Littleton Light and Water Department, to prepare a request for proposal to apply for a state grant, then to solicit proposals from consultants.

Rob Hartz of the Coalition of Aquifer Protection, which incorporates the Littleton and Ayer Spectacle Pond Association, sent a letter to the selectmen. The note proposed that the town ask Romney for help today during his visit to protect the Spectacle Pond aquifer from Guilford Transportation's plan to pave 57 acres for an auto unloading facility.

In his letter, Hartz suggested that a group of community and business leaders present a petition addressed to the governor that his group has collected that has more than 1,500 signatures of people who object to the paving plan.