Pepperell Planning Board Votes to Recommend First Full-Time Planner in Years

PEPPERELL -- January 19, 2021, Pepperell Planning Board unanimously recommends FY22 budget that includes a full-time planner for the first time in years. The board, meeting via GoToMeeting on January 19, voted to forward a planning department budget to Town Administrator Andrew that lists a $74,000 planner salary, acknowledged by the board to require an additional roughly 30 percent for benefits, pushing the true cost above $100,000. The budget also includes $50,000 for a zoning overhaul consultant, a separate $20,000 for a market and zoning study of the former Peter Fitzpatrick School site, and $24,000 for a part-time planning board assistant. Town Planner Lisa, an AICP-credentialed professional who has been part-time for the past two years, told the board she had been advocating for the hire since March 2020: "I think the town is right for a full-time planner, I'm not that person." The board also unanimously granted New England Craft Cultivators an extension of its special permit deliberation deadline to May 17, 2021, while the town pursues a zoning article at a forthcoming special town meeting.