Conservation Commission continues two riverfront hearings, issues enforcement order for illegal road move

PEPPERELL — April 5, 2022 — Pepperell Conservation Commission continued two riverfront hearings and issued an enforcement order over an unauthorized 71-foot road relocation at a residential subdivision. At its April 5 meeting, the commission sent both the Blood Team Realty Group's parking-lot improvement proposal at 129 Main Street and a residential addition application at 27 Jewett Street back for revised plans, with both hearings scheduled to resume April 19. Commission member Bob cited the 129 Main Street stormwater design as deficient on three counts — missing 44 percent TSS pretreatment, water quality calculations based on the first half-inch of runoff rather than the required first inch, and an infiltration basin sited too close to a steep riverbank slope — telling the engineer "I don't think you're improving it with a basin, I think you're making it worse." For 27 Jewett Street, the commission asked consultant Maureen Harrell of North Environmental to revise the plan so that a proposed 15-by-18-foot shed is either reduced to match the existing canopy shed's footprint or relocated outside the 50-foot wetland buffer, consistent with a MassDEP comment. Conservation Agent Paula also reported issuing an enforcement order at Chamberlain Way, where a contractor relocated a subdivision road 71 feet without approvals, filling adjacent wetlands with silt and leaving ground so unstable that a waste management truck became mired and a crane tow truck nearly tipped trying to free it; a Certificate of Occupancy for the subdivision's fourth home is being withheld pending a new wetland delineation and an after-the-fact notice of intent.