Pepperell Planning Board approves Clark's Auto Body site plan, hears food hub cold storage update

PEPPERELL -- June 17, 2024, Pepperell Planning Board approves a hair salon addition at Clark's Auto Body and hears a detailed cold storage feasibility pitch tied to a federal earmark. The board unanimously approved minor site plan MIN-24-4, allowing Sean Parsons to convert second-floor office space at 28 Wallace Street into a hair salon with a new exterior entry. Consultant Holly Fowler of Northbound Ventures Consulting, working with Ag Commission Co-Chair Cheryl Rossoff, presented two design scenarios for a cold storage facility at Lomar Park, with the preferred Alternative A yielding roughly 1,500 square feet of usable space and a faster path to financial self-sufficiency, backed by a remaining earmark balance of between $222,000 and $239,500 that must be spent by December 2024. The board indicated it wants clarity from Town Counsel and the Select Board before the town signs any lease, with Patnaud noting that the structure would parallel the Fitzpatrick kitchen arrangement. Engineer Doug Lees reported that a homeowner-removed drainage berm at Heritage Estates' Pond 2 must be rebuilt to its approved design, with the pond bottom requiring sand fill to restore a design elevation of 103.5 feet before the subdivision road receives its finish paving coat.