We learned in early May at the Annual Town Meeting that the Kinder-Morgan Corporation plans to ram a three-foot interstate gas pipeline through the center of Pepperell on its way from New York state to Dracut. This corporation has billions of dollars in the bank and seems to have most politicians of both parties in…
Author: Ron Karr
The author of the K Report Ron Karr is a former Pepperell Planning Board member and chairman.
Zoning Update
At the annual town meeting on May 5 and 6 the town took decisive action on the attempt to create a new strip zone by citizen’s petition. The applicants, led by Dick Conway and George Clark, sought to include their properties on Hollis Street in an expanded commercial district that would extend clear to the…
It’s Alive!: The Return of Strip Zoning
Some folks regret that Pepperell has largely avoided the commercial strips that characterize many New England towns such as Dracut, Billerica, and Salem, NH. This is not accidental: Pepperell’s zoning code has protected us from unregulated commercial development by confining new commercial development to a relatively small area of town. It’s not that our zoning…
Commercial Zoning?
So what’s wrong with Pepperell’s current commercial zoning? Plenty. Unlike many other towns, Pepperell has only one commercial district (but no fewer than 5 residential districts!). The one-size-fits-all approach seldom works in zoning, and this is no exception. Among the many things that are wrong the following are the most grievous: Multi-family housing: One basic…
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Not everything is wrong with Pepperell’s commercial zoning. When the predecessor of Pepperell’s current zoning map was drawn up in 1974, the commercial district was confined to the existing business areas, namely Railroad Square (the railroad still ran through it in those days) and Babbitasset Village, (Main Street between the river and the railroad depot),…
A Sobering Evening with Austin Mason
When I was a member of the Planning Board back in the 1990s, it was common for citizens to seek appointments to talk to the board. I remember one night when the late Conrad Eaton appeared with a long litany of complaints in hand. After he finished reading us his list of everything we were…