Pepperell garden group faces funding gap, watches 40B housing plan

Invasive and Native Plant Advisory Committee · Meeting of January 8, 2026

Pepperell plant advisory panel loses CPC funding for a planned community garden and digs into a contested 40B housing filing. The Invasive and Native Plant Advisory Committee learned from guest Dave Armstrong of the Climate Change Committee that a Community Preservation Committee grant for a garden behind the Fitzpatrick School fell through because the site lacks required conservation status, though the Pepperell Garden Club has offered to help fund it after its spring plant sale. Separately, the committee reviewed a proposed 40-home, 40B subdivision off Bancroft Street, where only 10 units would be affordable and residents packed a hearing over septic and traffic concerns on the area's "very curvy and hilly" roads.

The developer agreed to fund an independent town traffic study. The chair said she spent "at least 40 hours" reviewing roughly 800 pages of filings. The committee also moved its next meeting to January 15 to hear a tree-preservation grant proposal from Renee D'Argento of the Board of Health.

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Source: the Invasive and Native Plant Advisory Committee meeting of January 8, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.