Pepperell Planning Board Reviews Assisted Living Proposal, Revises Marijuana Bylaw Draft

PEPPERELL — January 14, 2019 — Pepperell Planning Board works through assisted living proposal and marijuana bylaw gaps. The board received a preliminary presentation from Doug and Michelle Wright, who are proposing a three-phase assisted living facility at 42 Mill Street that would grow from 16 units in Phase 1 to as many as 62 at full buildout, with a targeted 2020 groundbreaking and 2021 opening; no formal application has been filed. Members flagged traffic at the Nashua Road and Mill Street intersection and the need for the Wrights to review the town's architectural design guidelines. The board then spent the bulk of the evening workshopping a draft recreational marijuana bylaw, identifying unresolved language on temporary storage, hours of operation, a 500-foot residential buffer that members worried would leave nearly no viable parcels in town, odor control standards, and whether cultivators and retailers should be permitted in proximity to one another in the industrial zone. The board agreed to circulate homework assignments by email and return to the bylaw after a January 28 public hearing on an unrelated duplex proposal, with a finalized draft needed by approximately March to meet a May Town Meeting warrant deadline.