Pepperell Conservation Commission Approves Floodplain Septic Despite Member Reservations

PEPPERELL — September 23, 2025 — Pepperell Conservation Commission approves floodplain septic at 6 Yale Road despite member unease, while four wetlands cases are resolved in one night. Engineer Jeff Hannaford persuaded the commission that filling bordering land subject to flooding without compensation is acceptable because his cumulative analysis — accounting for all 11 properties in the neighborhood each filling twice his client's proposed volume — showed a maximum floodplain elevation increase of two hundredths of a foot. Member Pat Rice voted in favor but stated, "I think it's a very poor solution," and the chair said afterward, "If it's any consolation, I don't like it either." The commission also approved a negative determination for a 1974 failed-system replacement at 35 Mount Lebanon Street, a negative determination for a pool house one corner shy of the 50-foot wetland offset at 3 Mason Street — where applicant Joe Mercado is also a commission member — and a positive determination at 179 Brookline Street, where engineer Josh Josslyn of Grass Engineering must now file a full notice of intent after the commission concluded a man-made pond measuring up to 8,900 square feet qualifies as isolated land subject to flooding.