Pepperell Planning Board Sets November Zoning Targets, Flags Subdivision Rule Flaws

PEPPERELL — July 6, 2026 — Pepperell Planning Board targets November Town Meeting with zoning reforms and tears into draft subdivision rules. The board reached informal consensus Monday on a short list of zoning bylaw amendments to pursue this fall, prioritizing a commercial-industrial reform that would codify mixed-use activity already occurring at Lombard Park and a two-track refinement of the Urban Residential district to correct lot-size minimums that have placed many existing properties in pre-existing nonconforming status. A separate 40Y starter-home overlay was deferred pending clearer state guidance. In the second half of the meeting, members worked through subdivision regulations sections 1.2 through 4.8 and flagged more than a dozen problems, including a compliance clause in section 2.3 that one member said would effectively prohibit subdivision of any parcel containing a nonconforming structure — "physically impossible" to satisfy on most of Pepperell's developable rural land — and provisions in section 4.0 through 4.8 that impose mandatory preliminary plan submissions despite the document calling them optional. The board also directed Town Planner Jason to formally compel the Fitzpatrick Collaborative, which received Planning Board-channeled grant funds, to appear and provide a status update, saying polite requests had been "stonewalled."