Pepperell Planning Board Votes to Continue Subdivision Rules Review to February 20

PEPPERELL -- February 10, 2024, Pepperell Planning Board begins line-by-line revision of subdivision rules, flagging engineer-role conflicts and lot-access gaps. The three-member board, Chair Al Patten, David, and Brian, spent nearly two hours on February 10 working through a September 2023 redlined draft of the town's subdivision rules and regulations, identifying ambiguities in the definitions of "frontage" and "practical access," an internal contradiction that may prohibit wholesale sale of approved subdivisions, and a provision limiting lots to one dwelling unit that members say conflicts with the town's table of uses. The board agreed to strike the dwelling-unit limitation and rely on the use table, to remove civil engineers from plan-preparation authority in favor of registered land surveyors exclusively, and to add a new requirement that the registered professional of record be present at all planning board presentations and site visits. Members voted 3-0 to continue the public hearing to the February 20 meeting at 6:30 p.m., with Patten estimating the full review will require six to seven hours across multiple sessions.