Pepperell Planning Board approves gluten-free bakery, continues warehouse hearing to December

PEPPERELL -- November 20, 2023, Pepperell Planning Board approves gluten-free bakery at former rotary gas station, orders peer review of massive warehouse proposal. The board voted 4-0 Monday to approve a minor site plan for Lee Cameron to open a celiac-safe, gluten-free bakery at 49 Main Street, the old gas station on the rotary, with conditions requiring one-way traffic flow, a compliant handicap ramp, curb stops at parking spaces five through eight, and snow removal within 48 hours of storms. In a separate action, the board voted 4-0 to continue a hearing on a proposed two-building, roughly 450,000-square-foot industrial warehouse complex at 149 to 163 Nashua Road, developed by Servenka Development Partners of Saint Charles, Illinois; the town's own Department of Public Works memo warned that the project would generate an estimated 750 vehicle trips per day including 273 trucks, with a vehicle entering or exiting the site approximately every 45 seconds during peak hours. Planning Board Chair Al Patten led the board to require peer review of stormwater management, traffic, and sound before any decision can be issued, with the next hearing set for December 4 at 6:30 p.m. The board also heard a detailed status update on persistent road deficiencies at the Scotch Pine Farm Way subdivision, where Highway Superintendent Mike Schrader said the super-elevated common driveway lacks required guard rail and does not meet its approved design, and Conservation Administrator Paula Tarassi confirmed no certificate of compliance has been requested for any of the four outstanding orders of condition on the property.