Pepperell Planning Board Defers 23 Mill Street Decision Pending Corrections, Sets November 20 Vote

PEPPERELL — November 6, 2023 — Pepperell Planning Board defers 23 Mill Street decision and sets December deadline for food hub proposals. The board, chaired by Al Padnod and meeting remotely on November 6, agreed to bring clean versions of two complex draft decisions — a combined major site plan review and land disturbance permit, plus a separate special permit for access other than frontage — to its November 20 meeting after Town Counsel returned both documents with corrections, including a requirement to describe the Tighe and Bond peer-review process (letter P067-1018, October 4, 2023) in the findings and to revise expiration terms to two years with 30-day advance notice rather than the one-year-plus-120-day language copied from a prior decision. The board also directed two competing proponents for a $500,000 state food-hub earmark — the Agricultural Commission's $17,700 Phase 2 stakeholder study led by consultant Holly, and the Fitzpatrick Collaborative's commercial kitchen plan presented by Craig Hanson and Steve Temple — to submit Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources scope-of-work documents and funding-pathway outlines by December 4, for review at a December 18 meeting. The sharpest discussion of the night concerned 1-4 Chamberlain Street, where Conservation Commission member Paula and Zoning Officer Mike Schrader reported after a same-day site visit that the subdivision road may be in the wrong location, survey staking is absent, and the fire-truck turnaround runs roughly a foot low — with asphalt plants closing regionally around December 15 and the town holding performance cash rather than a surety bond.