Pepperell Selectmen Conditionally Accept Three Emerson Village Roads for Town Ownership

PEPPERELL — October 3, 2016 — Pepperell selectmen conditionally approved three roads in the Emerson Village subdivision and forwarded four warrant articles to a special town meeting set for October 24. The board unanimously voted to accept Emerson Circle, Winslow Court, and Fairchild Court — streets built under a Chapter 40B affordable housing permit by Edgestone Properties — contingent on completion of 10 punch-list items, including resolution of a vinyl fence found encroaching roughly three feet into the right-of-way. The board also placed articles on the warrant to establish an Other Post-Employment Benefits trust fund under MGL Chapter 32B Section 20, to fund a $140,000 Massachusetts School Building Authority feasibility study with a potential 40 to 50 percent state reimbursement on any resulting construction project, and to authorize the town administrator to recommend personal services contracts for department heads. A National Grid pole petition for High Street was approved over objections about unresolved double poles, with board members directing Town Administrator Mark Sim to raise the regional utility coordination problem at the council of town administrators and agreeing to require all co-owning utilities to appear at future jointly owned pole hearings.