Pepperell Select Board Approves Wine License for Main Street Pizza Shop

PEPPERELL — January 9, 2017 — Pepperell Select Board approved a wine and malt license for Pizza Pizzazz and endorsed the town's updated Open Space and Recreation Plan at its January 9 meeting. The board voted unanimously to grant the on-premises wine and malt license to Pizza Pizzazz operator Juliana Machado at 75 Main Street, continuing a hearing originally opened November 14, 2016, after Machado returned with security cameras installed, four TIP-certified employees, and a four-page written liquor service policy — steps board members called "starting off on the right foot." The board also endorsed the town's comprehensive Open Space and Recreation Plan, which Town Administrator Stephen Zio called "a springboard to getting grant funding money back to the town" and which the Northern Middlesex Council of Governments executive director Beverly Woods reportedly praised as a model for other communities. In other action, the board waived its Chapter 61A first refusal on a 17-acre property at Lawrence and Boynton Streets under agreement for $500,000, appointed Tom Nephew to the Board of Public Works, approved a charity wine pouring license for the Friends of the Lawrence Library's ninth annual wine tasting on March 4, passed a letter to House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Senate President Stanley Rosenberg opposing a proposed natural gas pipeline tax, and authorized Zio to draft a formal town-wide anti-discrimination and harassment policy with town counsel. Zio reported FY18 department requests currently exceed revenue projections by $719,000, with health care costs up 10 to 12 percent and regional retirement assessments rising more than 16 percent.