Pepperell Planning Board Approves Common Driveway for Five-Lot Elm Street Development

PEPPERELL — October 15, 2018 — Pepperell Planning Board unanimously approves common driveway permit for five-lot Shirley Street development. The board closed a continued public hearing and voted to approve a special permit for a common driveway at 3234 Shirley Street and 87 Elm Street, conditioned on soil sampling along the driveway base at designated stations and a final review of the stormwater maintenance agreement; engineer Jack Kuznicki of Cornerstone Land Consultants presented revised plans shifting the entrance three feet away from a wetland, adding snow storage areas, and extending a six-inch town water main from Shirley Street to serve all five lots rather than individual wells. The board also approved a modified landscaping plan for Reading Meadow Estates after developer Peter Caponis proposed planting 46 arborvitae to screen a neighboring property, but only after members flagged that no bond or tri-party security agreement could be located in town files — a recorded tri-party instrument referencing a $400,000 equity line of credit was ultimately found in the board's binder during the meeting. In other business, the board discussed drafting solar energy and recreational marijuana retail zoning bylaws for the spring 2019 town meeting, and briefly took up a last-minute Approval Not Required plan filed at 161 Nashua Road, which staff said had been forwarded to special town counsel with a response deadline of approximately November 2.