Pepperell Planning Board Hears Cannabis Retailer Pitch for Parkes Mall Space

PEPPERELL — January 27, 2020 — Pepperell Planning Board hears cannabis retail pitch and farm-camp permit debate at January 27 session. New England Craft Cultivators, a would-be cannabis retailer represented by Terry Turnbull, proposed a roughly 1,100-square-foot shop inside the Parkes Mall — across from Cumberland Farms — projecting 10 to 20 jobs and a 3 percent gross-sales host community agreement payment, but a board member immediately flagged that the six parking spaces required under the town's one-per-200-square-feet formula would be entirely consumed by the company's own employees and contract security officer. A new farm-camp operator, Emily, who recently purchased the historic 1735 Bancroft Street property, appeared for an informal scoping session on her minor site plan review, where the board urged her to return with a written list of formal waiver requests and detailed program limits after members invoked the "Canal Street" precedent of incremental land-use creep leading to land-court disputes. The board also unanimously re-signed long-delayed Bemis Estates subdivision plans following a December 2019 land-court title ruling, continued the Robbins Hollow subdivision hearing to February 3, and reached broad consensus against adopting a proposed outdoor lighting bylaw, with members arguing its lumen, height, and shielding requirements are technically unenforceable on residential properties and better addressed through design guidelines.