Pepperell Planning Board Unanimously Backs Tucker Avenue Sidewalk Grant Application

PEPPERELL — January 5, 2026 — Pepperell Planning Board votes unanimously to back school sidewalk grant application worth up to $1 million. The board voted 6-0 Monday to formally support a town application to the state Shared Streets and Spaces program, which offers up to $1 million with no local match, for sidewalk construction connecting Barnum Brook Elementary School and Nissitissit Middle School along Tucker Avenue. DPW Director Paul Brickman presented two options: a shorter "double L" route via Chase Avenue and the unpaved Russell Street, estimated at roughly $293,000, and a full Tucker Avenue sidewalk estimated near $900,000 due to drainage complications. Town Planner Jason Laddick said the application would be filed the following day and noted that the program's own criteria favor smaller, lower-cost projects. Tucker Avenue residents Lorelai Dean, an eighth grader, and her sister Izzy Dean, a sixth grader, delivered a slide presentation arguing Tucker Avenue is the only road in town with direct access to both schools and is already a community-established "desired pathway" evidenced by existing crossing guards. Board member Joan Laddick flagged the Northern Middlesex Council of Governments Transportation Improvement Program as an additional funding avenue worth pursuing.