Pepperell Planning Board OKs Mill Street Duplex, Continues Robinson Hollow Road Debate

PEPPERELL — November 4, 2019 — Pepperell Planning Board approves Mill Street duplex, pushes Robinson Hollow road design questions to November 25. The board unanimously granted a special permit to construct a two-family home at 42-46 Mill Street, with Town Engineer Ken Kalinowski's written review requiring separate water services and Highway Department permitting for the driveway cut; town planner Lisa Davis noted the site fully complies with dimensional requirements and falls outside wetland jurisdiction. The board then spent more than an hour on the continued hearing for the Robinson Hollow Open Space Residential Development on South Road, where engineer Devin Howe of Beals Associates, representing developer Land West, could not resolve two disputes with Kalinowski: whether the road should use Cape Cod berm-style curbing — preferred by the state's Natural Heritage program to protect on-site Blanding's turtles — or the sloped granite curbing Kalinowski favors for durability, and whether shallow-cover driveway culverts pose an unacceptable frost-heave risk to four future homeowners. One board member said flatly, "You put a static item in a frost bed and it's going to move," while Howe argued that differential frost movement is inherent at pipe ends regardless of burial depth. The board asked Howe to consult Kalinowski directly, seek clarification from Natural Heritage on whether a reduced six-inch granite curb would satisfy turtle-protection conditions, and prepare a sketch of an alternative design routing all drainage to an enlarged central detention pond.