Pepperell Conservation Commission ratifies Blood Street dam removal, continues two wetland hearings

PEPPERELL — December 16, 2025 — Pepperell Conservation Commission ratifies emergency dam removal and continues two contested wetlands hearings to January. At the December 16 meeting, commissioners unanimously ratified an emergency certification for removal of the deteriorating Burkes Pond dam at 2 Blood Street, owned by Brian McPhail, after Trout Unlimited and a watershed organization provided funding and work had already begun that day. The more contested business involved a proposed five-building, 40-unit 40B apartment complex at 59 Lyden Street filed by Mass F Rentals LLC, where civil engineer Brian Melissi of Haley Ward disputed the commission's reading of stream width on the plans — "those are actually property lines from the deed," he said — while commission member Pat Rice raised PFAS contamination concerns tied to the adjacent DPW site, noting the town's Nashua Road well had been shut down and a $20 million-plus filtration system was under construction. A separate hearing on a single-family house at 14 Cranberry Street involving 2,150 square feet of proposed wetland fill was also continued to January 6, with the commission requesting an alternative driveway alignment further from the wetland boundary.