Pepperell Planning Board continues pizza restaurant hearing to September 19

PEPPERELL — August 15, 2022 — Pepperell Planning Board continues public hearing on a pizza restaurant proposal and launches affordable housing collaboration. The board unanimously continued a major site plan review for Pizza Pizzazz Inc. — a proposed 1,856-square-foot restaurant at 81 Main Street that would replace a single-family home — to September 19, after civil engineer Kyle Burchard of Goldsmith Preston Ringwall detailed plans for 11 parking spaces, a stormwater infiltration system requiring redesign to meet groundwater separation standards, and a hybrid dine-in and takeout operation with five tables. Members raised concerns about lighting encroachment on an abutting residential neighbor, parking-lot sign elevation, and pedestrian access through the single 24-foot curb cut, with Burchard agreeing to painted directional lanes. In a subsequent joint session, Planning Board Chair Al Fatnot and Affordable Housing Committee Chair Brian aligned on a work plan to review the town's draft design guidelines through an affordable-housing lens, analyze the 11-acre Peter Fitz town-owned property as a first development candidate, and activate the Affordable Housing Trust ahead of a November 14 Town Meeting vote on a Chapter 40R smart growth overlay bylaw that sets affordability at 25 percent — five points above the state minimum — with a local preference provision added to the draft.