TOWN OF PEPPERELL

Northern Massachusetts, bordered by Townsend on the west; Hollis and Brookline, New Hampshire, on the north; Dunstable on the east; and Groton on the southeast and east. Pepperell is 15 miles north of Fitchburg, 18 miles west of Lowell, 35 miles northwest of Boston, and 215 miles from New York City.

 

Pepperell's website

TOWN SERVICES:   

TOWN CONTACTS (as of June 2004)

Board of Selectmen: (978) 433 – 0333
John W. Lynch Jr. – Chairman
Darrell C. Gilmore
Lyndon B. Johnson

Town Administrator: (978) 433 - 0333
Robert B. Hanson

Town Clerk: (978) 433 – 0339
Lois Libby 

Planning Board: (978) 433 – 0338
Joseph Sergi – Chairman
Nicholas A. Cate 
Jeffrey Chabot
James Daddona
Stephen Themelis
 

Planning Administrator: (978) 433 – 0336
Inez Gove 

Conservation Commission: (978) 433 – 0325
Robert T. Elliot, - Chairman
Steve Bezanson
James Casserly
Linda Moody
Robert Rand
Patricia Swain Rice
Jeffrey Sauer

Public Water Systems:
Approximately 70% of Pepperell is serviced by town water. The Town’s average water demand in 1996 was 1.2 million gallons per day. Water supply is provided by three public wells, one located on Bemis Road and two on Jersey Street. A fourth well is planned to be located off Lawrence St. 

Trash Collection:
The Town operates a transfer station on Boynton St. In FY 99, the Town generated 950 tons in solid waste. Total recyclables received at the transfer station totaled 724 tons. 

Sewer:
Public sewer serves approximately 45% of Pepperell households. The system includes 50 miles of sewer lines, all installed since 1978. The Town operates a wastewater treatment plant which discharges treated wastewater into the Nashua River. The plant has design capacity of 705,000 gallons per day. In 1998, the plant operated at 66% capacity treating an average daily flow of 371,200 gallons per day from Pepperell and 140,100 gallons per day from Groton. 

Library:
Pepperell’s Lawrence Library in FY2000 had holdings of 58,000 volumes and circulation of 120,000. 

Schools:
Pepperell, along with the towns of Townsend and Ashby, is a member of the North Middlesex Regional School District. The district provides three schools for Pepperell children – the Peter Fitzpatrick Elementary School, the Varnum Brook Middle School and the Northern Middlesex Regional High School. The school districts 1999 – 2000 enrollment was 4,885 pupils. Pepperell is also member community for the Nashoba Valley Technical High School.

Public Safety:
18 permanent uniformed officers staff Pepperell Police Dept. The Fire Dept. is a volunteer department with a full-time Captain and 39 firefighters on call overseen by a 3-member Board of Fire Engineers.

Chief of Police: Chief Alan Davis (978) 433-2424

Chief of Fire Department: Chief Costa Bozicas (978) 433-2113 

Rail:
Commuter rail service to North Station, Boston is available at Lowell Gallagher Terminal or at the newly renovated North Billerica Station (Travel time 40 minutes). Freight rail service is available from the Springfield Terminal Railway, contact number: (978) 663 – 1073.   

TAX RATE: Residential - $13.24 per $1,000, Commercial- $13.24 per $1,000

Population Trends – PEPPERELL  (2000 U.S. Census) 
(Updated May 25, 2002)

1960	1970	1980	1990	2000	#Change 1990-2000	%Change 1990-2000
4,336	5,887	8,061	10,098	11,142	1,044	10.3%

 

Persons by Sex (2000 U.S. Census) 

Male	5,481
Female	5,661

 

Age Distribution (2000 U.S. Census) 

	Persons	%
Under 5	867	7.8
5 – 14	2,011	18.1
15 – 44	4,898	44.0
45 – 64	2,534	22.7
65 & over	832	7.5

  

Race and Ethnicity (2000 U.S. Census) 

	Persons	%
White	10,826	97.2%
Black	52	0.5%
Am Indian, Eskimo or Aleut	14	0.1%
Asian or Pacific Islander	80	0.7%
Hispanic Origin	114	1.0%

 

Households (2000 U.S. Census) 

1980	1990	2000
2,509	3,385	3,847

 

Household Size (2000 U.S. Census) 

2.89 persons per household 

Households by Type (2000 U.S. Census)                                   

	Households	%
Married Couple/ Family	2,520	65.5
Female Householder	368	9.6
Non-Family Household	831	21.6

 

Income Distribution (2000 U.S. Census) 

	Households	%
Less than $10,000	166	4.3%
$ 10,000 - $ 14,999	83	2.2%
$ 15,000 - $ 24,999	314	8.2%
$ 25,000 - $ 34,999	259	6.7%
$ 35,000 - $ 49,999	572	14.9%
$ 50,000 - $ 74,999	803	20.9%
$ 75,000 - $ 99,999	766	19.9%
$ 100,000 - $ 149,999	562	14.6%
$ 150,000 - $ 199,999	167	4.3%
$ 200,000 or more	153	4.0%

 

Sources of Income (2000 U.S. Census) 

	# Of Households	Average Income
Wage & Salary	3,477	$74,084
Social Security	667	$11,706
Supplemental Security	73	$8,444
Public Assistance	34	$7,057
Retirement	501	$14,067

 

HOUSING CHARACTERISTICS 

Housing Units (2000 U.S. Census) 

1970	1980	1990	2000
1,738	2,653	3,505	3,917

 

Median Household Income (2000 U.S. Census) 

1970	1980	1990	2000
$10,203	$20,608	$44,998	$65,162

 

Median Home Sale Price (Banker & Tradesman) 

	1992	1994	1996	1998	2000
1 – Family	$135,000	$30,500	$145,250	$162,500	$232,000
Condo	$75,000	$43,500	$52,500	$80,000	$116,000
All Sales	#123,000	$116,250	$138,000	$150,000	$217,000

 

Housing Unit Permit Data 

1990	1992	1994	1996	1998	2000
23	48	73	77	42	74

 

Housing Breakdown by Occupancy (2000 U.S. Census) 

		% OF TOTAL
TOTAL HOUSING UNITS	3,917
Total Occupied Units	3,847	98.2%
Owner Occupied	3,055	79.4%
Renter Occupied	792	20.6%
Total Vacant	70	1.8%

 

LAND USE CLASSIFICATION (Mass. GIS 1991)  

PEPPERELL LAND USE	ACREAGE	% OF TOTAL
Residential	2,626.82 Acres	17.7%
Commercial	91.49 Acres	0.6%
Industrial	159.12 Acres	1.1%
Agriculture	2,156.23 Acres	14.5%
Open Space/ Recreation	9,075.88 Acres	61.2%
Transportation/Mining/Waste	512.28 Acres	3.5%
Water	213.15 Acres	1.4%
TOTAL ACREAGE	14,834.97 Acres	100%

 

RECREATION  

Pepperell Parks & Recreation Commission
C/O Town Hall
1 Main St
Pepperell, MA 01463
Greg Rice, Chairperson
(978) 433 – 6392 

Recreational Facilities 

Nissitissit River W.M.A (294 Acres)
Cross country skiing, fresh water fishing, hiking, hunting, nature observation, and snowmobiling 

Hays and Swett Lots (125 Acres)
Non-motorized boating, cross country skiing, fresh water fishing, hiking, hunting, nature observation, snowmobiling, target archery. 

Conservation Commission Land Trust (100 Acres)
Cross country skiing, fresh water fishing, hiking, horseback riding, and nature observation. 

Town Forest (83 Acres)
Cross country skiing, hiking, horseback riding, hunting, nature observation, picnicking 

Orchard Lot (80 Acres)
ATV motoring, cross-country skiing, hiking, nature observation, picnicking, sight seeing, snowmobiling 

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT 

Employment Base - 2000  

LABOR FORCE – 2000	6,412
# Residents Employed	6,273
# Residents Unemployed	139
Pepperell Unemployment Rate	2.2%
NMCOG Region Unemployment Rate	2.5%
State Unemployment Rate	2.6%

 

Employment by Industry Sector – 2001 (Mass Division of Employment & Training ES - 202 Series)

Agriculture/Forestry/Fishing	63
Government	316
Construction	186
Manufacturing	197
TCPU	100
Trade	340
FIRE	52
Services	331
Total Employment/Pepperell	1,585

TCPU = Transportation, Communication and Public Utilities
FIRE = Finance, Insurance and Real Estate
conf = Data suppressed due to confidentiality

Means Of Transportation To Work   - 2000 (Census Transportation Planning Package 2000)

Subject	1990 Census		2000 Census		Change 1990 to 2000
	Number	Percent	Number	Percent	Number	Percent
Workers 16 years & over	5,123	100.0	5,860	100.0	737	14.4
Drove alone	4,290	83.7	5,053	86.2	763	17.8
Carpooled	508	9.9	499	8.5	-9	-1.8
Public transportation (including taxicab)	29	0.6	50	0.9	21	72.4
Bicycle or walked	87	1.7	43	0.7	-44	-50.6
Motorcycle or other means	25	0.5	8	0.1	-17	-68.0
Worked at home	184	3.6	207	3.5	23	12.5

 Travel Time To Work - 2000 (Census Transportation Planning Package 2000)

Subject	1990 Census		2000 Census		Change 1990 to 2000
	Number	Percent	Number	Percent	Number	Percent
Workers who did not work at home	4,930	100.0	5,653	100.0	714	14.5
Less than 5 minutes	150	3.0	130	2.3	-20	-13.3
5 to 9 minutes	453	9.2	412	7.3	-41	-9.1
10 to 14 minutes	539	10.9	499	8.8	-40	-7.4
15 to 19 minutes	427	8.6	451	8.0	24	5.6
20 to 29 minutes	970	19.6	987	17.5	17	1.8
30 to 44 minutes	1,291	26.1	1,348	23.8	57	4.4
45 or more minutes	1,109	22.5	1,826	32.3	717	64.7
Mean travel time to work (minutes)	28.8	X	34.8	X	6.0	X

 

MEDIA:
Lowell Sun
15 Kearney Square, Lowell, 01852
(978) 458 – 7100 

Pepperell Free Press
P.O. Box 362, Ayer, Ma 01432
(978) 433 – 8681   

REGIONAL PLANNING AGENCY:

Northern Middlesex Council of Governments
115 Thorndike Street, Lowell MA 01852
Robert W. Flynn, Executive Director
Phone: (978) 454 – 8021
Fax: (978) 454 – 8023

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