Pepperell Conservation Commission Continues Park Street Wetland Hearing to September 12

PEPPERELL -- August 22, 2023, Pepperell Conservation Commission continues Park Street wetland hearing, approves emergency beaver repair. The commission voted unanimously at its August 22 meeting to pay $1,349 to Beaver Solutions for emergency repairs to a beaver water-level control device on Route 113 near the Dunstable line, which had failed and flooded a driveway on Hyacinth Street. The panel then continued a Notice of Intent hearing for proposed garage additions and driveway work at 40 Park Street to September 12, after consultant Greg Roy of Dawson Roy acknowledged the project adds a net increase in impervious area within the wetland buffer zone but could not provide a precise before-and-after figure. One commissioner who had walked the site the day before questioned whether the proposed subsurface infiltration system would function in what he described as a persistently wet backyard, saying, "If you put a shovel in the ground right where your infiltration area is, you're gonna find water." The commission also informally reviewed a draft conservation restriction covering a 44-acre parcel at 83-85 Jewett Street, abutting Hield Pond and Hield Orchard, slated for donation to Nashoba Conservation Trust, a vote on that document is expected once the final version is ready.