Pepperell Conservation Commission continues Prescott Street hearing amid DEP Clean Water Act review

PEPPERELL -- April 2, 2024, Pepperell Conservation Commission continues long-delayed 11 Prescott Street dwelling hearing as DEP flags Clean Water Act review. The commission voted to continue the public hearing on a Notice of Intent filed by applicant Linda Cassinelli for a single-family home and 670-foot driveway, a project with a permit history stretching back to 2016, after Conservation Commission agent Paula Terrasi relayed that the state Department of Environmental Protection wants the hearing kept open pending a site inspection and potential Section 401 water quality certification, because the project discharges to the Nissitissit River, an Outstanding Resource Water. Project engineer Lim Hoodtiv of GPR said the Certificate of Compliance request would be submitted to DEP the following morning. Commissioners raised snow storage and road-salt concerns; Cassinelli, participating remotely, said she does not use salt and would accept a perpetual no-salt condition. The hearing was continued to April 16 at 7:05 p.m., with May 14 as the fallback if DEP has not yet acted. Earlier in the meeting, Sue Edwards introduced Save Nissitissit Valley Wildlife, a new citizen coalition, which cited a dead eagle found on a Pepperell trail as a catalyst for organizing against second-generation anticoagulant rodenticide use in the region.