GROTON — The Board of Health continued a public hearing on a request for variances to the town’s existing septic bylaws, for a home owned by the New England Forestry Foundation (NEFF).
Represented by attorney Raymond Lyons, NEFF is currently in litigation with the board over a prior decision to refuse a similar request for the same Baddacook Pond Road property.
According to Lyons, his client’s original request was denied by the board about two years before, with the decision then being appealed with the state. Since then, however, conditions have changed, with NEFF establishing a new headquarters in Littleton and now planning a good deal less use of the four-bedroom house it owns on Baddacook Pond Road.
As a result, said Lyons, the group has returned to the board with an entirely new application that seeks only two variances: An exemption to regulations requiring at least a 100-foot setback from any wetland to only 50 feet for a proposed new septic system on the property which would replace an existing outhouse, and a 16-foot setback for a new well to be located on the property.
The house sits on 183 acres owned by NEFF, a private environmental preservation group.
Other than the septic and well work, Lyons told the board that NEFF had no plans to make any other changes to the house or property.
Acknowledging the concerns of BOH members regarding future plans for the property, NEFF engineer Dan Wolf suggested to the board that as part of its decision on the application, it should not take into account what might happen there some time in the future but only what was being proposed at the present time.
Monday’s hearing was continued until the board’s meeting of July 16 with a site walk by board members scheduled for June 21. — Pierre Comtois
![PEPPERELL — Pepperell Aid from Community to Home is grateful for the leaders of Girl Scout Troop 65093 for a successful food drive. The food drive was part of the troop’s Take Action Project during which they learned how to help people in need. The troop chose PACH, which is a volunteer organization serving the […]](https://www.nashobavalleyvoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/SEN-L-PACH-01.jpg?w=538 "PEPPERELL — Pepperell Aid from Community to Home is grateful for the leaders of Girl Scout Troop 65093 for a successful food drive. The food drive was part of the troop’s Take Action Project during which they learned how to help people in need. The troop chose PACH, which is a volunteer organization serving the […]")
