Pepperell Conservation Commission Doubles Filing Fee on Historical Society for Unpermitted Tree Removal

PEPPERELL — April 22, 2026 — Pepperell Conservation Commission doubles filing fee on Historical Society for unpermitted tree removal, clears two infrastructure permits. The commission voted unanimously April 22 to charge the Pepperell Historical Society $400 — twice the standard $200 amended order-of-conditions fee, with a 25 percent nonprofit reduction to apply — after trees were removed without a permit in late December 2025 within the 200-foot riverfront area at Main Street properties including the Harvard Church parcel. Chair James DeRoyan called the Dillis and Roy restoration plan submitted by the society "a crap plan," citing replacement trees spaced 10 feet apart for species with 60-plus-foot canopy spreads and no accounting for invasive removal or stump grinding. The commission also issued unanimous negative three determinations for a residential lawn-grading project at 11 Squanderers Terrace and a Pepperell Highway Department concrete sidewalk replacement running from 50 to 70 Brookline Street to Hawthorne Middle School, the latter with a special silt-fence condition at a slumped section near the police station. A notice of intent for a septic installation and cabin rebuild at Zero Fine Road was continued to May 13, with abutters raising concerns about potential encroachment into town forest. An Adams Dam feasibility report examining whether removal is appropriate is expected by June 30 and will ultimately go to a town meeting vote.