Pepperell Planning Board closes composting permit case after applicant withdraws request

PEPPERELL — March 7, 2016 — Pepperell Planning Board formally closes Massachusetts Composting Group permit case. The board met for 14 minutes on March 7, approving minutes from four prior meetings and receiving a same-day withdrawal letter from Massachusetts Composting Group, Inc. President David Burton, who pulled the company's request for an extension of its site plan review permit at 141-163 Nashville Road without prejudice. The chair, citing legal advice from Town Counsel Ned Richardson and Building Inspector Harry Collins, said the lapse of the permit combined with two years of no physical change to the property means a composting use is no longer permitted under town bylaws: "he can come back and file another site plan for something else, but not a composting facility." Resident Scott Butcher, of 26 Ridge Road, asked whether the board would enforce earlier gravel-removal permit conditions requiring a three-to-one slope restoration on the same site; the chair referred him to the Board of Selectmen, which issues gravel removal permits.