Pepperell Planning Board continues Hollis Street housing hearing to December 14

PEPPERELL — December 7, 2015 — Pepperell Planning Board continues Hollis Street open-space housing hearing after residents raise traffic and drainage concerns. The board opened and immediately continued to December 14 a public hearing on a 13-lot Open Space Residential Development at 68-72 and 76-78 Hollis Street, proposed by applicant Albert W. Patton Jr. on a 30.46-acre parcel with 18.75 acres of protected open space. Engineer Mark Tamarino of Whitman and Bingham Associates responded to four departmental reviews — from Highway, the Department of Public Works, the Board of Health, and the Conservation Commission — that collectively flagged a missing conventional subdivision concept plan, five frontage waivers below the bylaw's 75-foot minimum, unresolved wetland delineation, and vehicular safety concerns at the nearby Mill-Hollis Street intersection. Multiple abutters, including Robin Betcher of 90 Hollis Street and Katie Betcher of 88 Hollis Street, called the intersection "quite dangerous" and challenged the adequacy of the proposed road entrance sitting only 200 feet from it. The board also voted unanimously to approve a minor drainage and grading modification to a separate River Road subdivision, and agreed to shift its 2016 regular meeting schedule to the first and third Mondays of each month to avoid conflicts with the Board of Selectmen.