Pepperell Commission Approves Wetland Delineation, Plans Trout Unlimited Dam Hearing

PEPPERELL — December 12, 2017 — Pepperell Conservation Commission unanimously approved a wetland delineation for Scotch Pine Farm and laid groundwork for a public hearing on Sucker Brook dam removal. The commission issued an Order of Resource Area Delineation for properties at 85 Thelma Street and 43 Shirley Street owned by Michael and Donna Quintel, who plan to file a Notice of Intent for possible construction of two single-family houses. Commissioners also reissued a Certificate of Compliance for 2 Cranberry after discovering no second original had been recorded, blocking a property sale. The bulk of the December 12 meeting focused on Sucker Brook, where a commission member presented data from the North Atlantic Aquatic Connectivity Collaborative identifying the Brookline Street culvert — contracted from a 23-foot channel to roughly 6.7 feet inside the pipe — as a significant barrier to fish passage, upstream of the dam that Trout Unlimited has proposed removing. A member noted that the culvert was perched above design grade because a water main was discovered beneath the road during installation, and that a town paving moratorium bars road work at that location for at least five years. Commissioners agreed to offer Trout Unlimited the January 9 and January 23 meeting dates for a formal public hearing, insisting the project be treated as a town initiative given that both the dam and the culvert sit on or under town-owned infrastructure.