Pepperell Selectmen Endorse Birch Drive Affordable Housing LIP, Authorize Tax Lien Auction

PEPPERELL — May 16, 2016 — Pepperell Selectmen unanimously endorsed a 20-home affordable housing project on Birch Drive and authorized the town's first-ever bulk tax lien auction targeting $860,000 in delinquent debt. The board backed the Local Initiative Program application by Edgestone Properties of Nashua, which would complete a 1980s subdivision left with 21 unbuilt lots, placing five of the 20 proposed single-family homes under affordable deed restrictions; attorney Adam Costa told the board the project "would not move forward" without a 50 percent waiver of sewer connection fees, which the Board of Public Works had informally supported. Town Collector Debbie Nutter said letters go out before a May 27 newspaper advertisement listing 31 delinquent property owners by name, with a June 16 public auction scheduled under Chapter 60 of Massachusetts General Laws and a final payment deadline of close of business June 15. Town Administrator Mark Andrews also reported that Moody's affirmed the town's AA3 bond rating on April 19 and that veterans' benefits to Pepperell had risen by a net $7,085 — the third consecutive annual increase. The board separately named Emily Bowling to a three-year Conservation Commission term and heard a plea from Fourth of July Committee member Mike Tang, who warned the all-volunteer group was "short about $15,000" of its $32,000 budget and could cancel the 2017 celebration unless the town placed a fireworks funding article before the fall Town Meeting.