Pepperell Planning Board extends Hollis Street permit, OSRD bylaw work stalls without consultant

PEPPERELL — February 27, 2017 — Pepperell Planning Board unanimously extended a nine-year-old special permit for a Hollis Street residential project and acknowledged its Open Space Residential Design bylaw effort may miss the next town meeting. The board granted a two-year extension on SP 2007-11, covering 33 and 35 Hollis Street, after property owners Rich and Deborah Colangelo submitted a letter explaining they had moved to South Carolina in 2013 and were now ready to build "an affordable option for buyers in the center of town." Members noted early extensions were tied to a statewide blanket relief granted by Governor Deval Patrick during the economic downturn, making prior delays largely automatic. On the OSRD bylaw, which has been in development since 2013, the board found it cannot reach consultant Mark Archambault, who told a board member he had been told to "lay low" and has since stopped all work; members voted to seek a written explanation through the town administrator's office, with a warrant article deadline of March 16 leaving almost no time to recover.