Pepperell ZBA opens hearing on 40-home Bancroft Street 40B project

Zoning Board of Appeals · Meeting of January 7, 2026

Pepperell Zoning Board of Appeals opens six-month review of a 40-home 40B project off Bancroft Street. Attorney Melissa Robbins, representing Woodland Ridge LLC, presented plans for 40 single-family homes on 45.5 acres, including 10 units deed-restricted as affordable, with consultant Joe Pesnola noting the town sits at just 2.8 percent of its state affordable-housing threshold. The board voted unanimously to hire Howard Stein Hudson for a $20,000 applicant-funded peer review of traffic and civil engineering and to continue the hearing to February 25.

More than a dozen neighbors objected to the project's density, single access road and shared septic system; resident Patricia Peavy said, "I am asking that this development be taken off the table," while Nick Fettis vowed the neighborhood is "totally worth fighting for."

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Source: the Zoning Board of Appeals meeting of January 7, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.