Pepperell Conservation Commission Sends Edgestone Subdivision Back for More Stormwater Revisions

PEPPERELL — April 4, 2017 — Pepperell Conservation Commission continues Edgestone subdivision hearing to May 2 over unresolved stormwater deficiencies. The commission, hearing a continuation of seven Notices of Intent filed by Edgestone Properties for a Chapter 40B subdivision off Heald Street, pressed engineer Joe Pesnola of Hancock Associates on multiple technical failures in the revised stormwater plan, including grit separators sized to a half-inch water quality volume when site infiltration rates require a one-inch standard — a correction Pesnola acknowledged could more than double one separator's volume from roughly 3,000 to 7,000 cubic feet. The commission also challenged basin setbacks from wetlands, inadequate groundwater separation data, an improper snow disposal area adjacent to wetland boundaries, and a wetland replication planting plan that a commission member said would produce the wrong vegetation type. Two abutters raised flooding and drainage concerns, with one describing a sump pump cycling every three minutes year-round. Separately, the commission voted unanimously to issue a negative determination clearing a two-car garage addition for Michael Bray at 4 Suncook Street, finding the project — sited roughly 55 feet from the wetland edge — does not require a Notice of Intent.