Pepperell Selectmen Approve Special Town Meeting Warrant, Deny Two Liquor Permits

PEPPERELL — September 10, 2018 — Pepperell selectmen approve a six-article special town meeting warrant for October 1 and reject two one-day liquor license applications. The board unanimously backed a warrant covering $223,950 in free cash appropriations — including $65,000 for special town counsel, roughly $31,000 for fire apparatus pump repairs, and a corrected lease-purchase payment on a front-end loader originally underfunded by $16,700 per year — and left open a debt-exclusion article for a $1.4 million fire truck pending the fire chief's full presentation. Consultant Joe Jordan delivered a stark warning on the town's newly mandatory NPDES MS4 stormwater permit, effective July 1, 2018: "This is mandatory — this is not optional," he said, noting EPA fines of up to $25,000 per day for non-compliance; Articles 4 and 5 propose a stormwater enterprise fund charging roughly $50 per parcel annually. A citizen petition opposing a proposed soil reclamation project at 161 Nashua Road, certified with approximately 220 signatures, appears as a non-binding resolution in Article 6. The board denied one-day wine-and-malt applications from PATCH and the Pepperell Business Association, citing liability concerns despite a $2 million umbrella policy offered by applicant Dick Conway of Conway Service and Sales.