Pepperell Planning Board approves compliance certificates, hears briefing on 161 Nashua Road soil project

PEPPERELL — July 17, 2018 — Pepperell Planning Board closes out two subdivisions and debates a major soil reclamation project proposed for 161 Nashua Road. The board voted unanimously Tuesday to issue certificates of compliance for a gas station at 79-11 South Road and a two-lot subdivision at 50 Elm Street, and approved a $508 MAPC membership bill. Members then spent the bulk of the meeting discussing a proposal by property owner Dave Burton, working with Terra Environmental licensed site professional Phil Peterson, to import up to 4 million cubic yards of fill into a former gravel pit near the municipal airport — a project that could generate roughly $16 million for Burton over seven to nine years and require an estimated 15,000 truck trips through town. The site sits within Zone 2 of the Nashua Road municipal well and approximately 250 feet from the Nashua River, raising groundwater contamination concerns that members said extend to the shared regional aquifer underlying Hollis, New Hampshire, and Dunstable. Interim Town Administrator John Moak, a former Newburyport mayor with prior experience handling a comparable DEP consent order, selected an outside environmental attorney from a competitive RFP process at a packed Selectmen's meeting the previous evening, with the town facing a 30-to-45-day window to respond formally to the DEP application and potentially receive $1 million for road mitigation.