Pepperell Conservation Commission Continues Heald Street Hearing Over Federal Species Consultation

PEPPERELL -- December 5, 2023, Pepperell Conservation Commission continues two active hearings to January 9 amid pending state and federal reviews. The commission voted unanimously to continue the 115 Heald Street notice of intent, filed by Terry Reese for a house, garages, barn, septic, well, and two wetland-crossing driveway, after the applicant's representative reported that a U.S. Fish and Wildlife consultation on the small whorled pogonia, a federally threatened orchid, and the monarch butterfly remains unresolved and requires a direct call to the agency's Concord, New Hampshire field office. A wetland replication planting schedule from consultant Maureen Harold of North Environmental Services is also outstanding. The 149-163 Nashua Road hearing was separately continued because MassDEP, which has more than 80 active filings in its Worcester office, has not yet commented, and outside engineering firm Tighe & Bond only began its town-commissioned peer review on December 4, with initial findings expected December 15. The commission also set its regular meeting schedule through June 2024 and agreed to make hunting-access information more prominent on the town conservation website.