Pepperell Conservation Commission Continues Two Wetland Hearings, Approves Yale Road Septic

PEPPERELL — January 3, 2023 — Pepperell Conservation Commission continued two wetland hearings and approved a tight tank septic order for a flood-prone Yale Road cottage at its January 3 meeting. Engineer Jack Maloney of Dillis and Roy presented a septic replacement plan for 11 South Road, a gas station property lying entirely within the 100-year floodplain at elevation 205.5, but late-arriving DEP comments recommending demonstration of no incremental flood increase and investigation of a no-fill alternative forced a continuance to January 17. The commission voted to issue an order of conditions for a 2,000-gallon tight tank at 1 Yale Road — a 0.36-acre lot almost entirely within wetlands or the 50-foot buffer zone that has been evacuated by canoe in past floods — with a possible condition requiring removal of a shed found by survey to cross onto conservation-owned land. A prolonged debate over engineer Kenneth Laney of Cornerstone's Chamberlain Way driveway relocation plan ended in a second continuance to January 17, after member Bob Elliott challenged the framing of hillside groundwater daylight as exempt from stormwater treatment requirements, with stamped revised plans and independent DPW review due by January 6.