"What we didn't expect was that, after overcoming so many other hurdles, the one challenge that would ultimately determine whether Ferns could reopen would be finding a wastewater solution." The prospective owners of Ferns Country Store wrote that to the town this summer. The doors closed in May 2025, and it is now the first week of October 2026.
The sentence holds the whole story. Carlisle Center has had a general store for more than a century, known as Daisy's and later as Ferns. To come back in its planned form, that store now needs something the center has never had: a pipe running to the treatment plant at the Carlisle School. The town first drew up that idea in 2010. A general store has now picked it up. On Tuesday, the Select Board takes up the Pirris' wastewater-study request and whether a fall Special Town Meeting is needed at all.
Who Is Trying to Bring It Back, and What They Want It to Be
The buyers are neighbors. Ben and Amy Pirri and their friends Mark and Jill Kushinsky have the property under a purchase agreement with the Culkins and Daisy family. Sam and Kinnari Patel of Turnpike Market in Billerica are lined up to run it. They describe a grocery, market, café, bakery, liquor store and dining spot, with expanded patios for families and cyclists. More than 500 people answered their community survey in fall 2025. Barbara Culkins would keep living above the store rent-free.
That larger program is the reason wastewater became the deciding issue. The old septic system served an apartment, the store, a deli and a little seating with no wait service. The new plan keeps the two-bedroom apartment and adds a café. According to materials Ben Pirri gave the Select Board in August, the lot has no room for an on-site system big enough to handle all of it.
A Small Lot With an Old Gas Station Underneath
The owners' January 2026 update lists the site's problems, each documented in earlier Massachusetts DEP sanitary surveys and notices of noncompliance:
- Ground contamination from the property's years as a gas station. The site is a DEP 21E location with a DEP lien, so it cannot change hands until the required environmental work is done.
- Past coliform and E. coli detections in the well, plus ongoing PFAS readings above current state guidelines.
- A well inside a tight Zone I protection area that takes in the building, the parking lot, the road and the septic system.
- A septic system that cannot be expanded, on a lot with no room for a conventional larger one.
The buyers say they are paying for the remediation themselves. In their first letter, they estimated that renovations and remediation together would cost more than $1.4 million on top of the purchase price.
Septic was the last problem left. The Pirris first looked at Center Park, next to the store, as a site for a new leach field, and the Select Board allowed perc tests there. Pirri later said that option would sharply limit what the Ferns site could become. By July, their engineers had concluded they "could not identify an approvable on-site wastewater solution." That pointed them toward the school.
The Plant on Banta Davis, and the Numbers From 2010
The town-owned wastewater facility at the Carlisle School has served the campus since 2006. The owners point out that it was designed with extra capacity. Todd Morey of Beals Associates outlined a connection: a grease trap, a septic tank and a pump station on the Ferns lot, then a force main running about 1,200 feet to the school.
Carlisle has been here before. In 2010, the Carlisle Mosquito reported that the Board of Health had applied for a state low-interest loan. The money would have paid for a first phase of about $500,000 to connect Village Court and the Gleason Public Library to the school plant, with completion targeted for October 2012. Ferns, Town Hall, and the Fire and Police stations were listed for later phases.
These are the 2010 figures. They are historical estimates, not a current measure of what the plant can take:
| 2010 Board of Health estimate | Gallons per day |
|---|---|
| Plant design capacity, built 2006 | 13,500 |
| Average flow, January 2008 to June 2010 | 1,574 |
| Average flow while school was in session | 1,866 |
| Estimated available capacity at the time | about 11,600 |
| School flow projected by facilities supervisor David Flannery as enrollment grew | up to 5,000 |
| Proposed first phase: library plus 18 Village Court units | 3,380, rising to 5,180 with 12 more apartments |
The 2010 plan also discussed a possible sewer commission and betterment fees of $5,000 to $12,000 for private connections. The study underway in 2026 again lists the Gleason Public Library as a candidate, along with Village Court, Town Hall, Police and Fire. Beals concluded that a shared town-center extension works best over the long run because Ferns and the town would split costs and ongoing maintenance would stay lower. He put the total cost at nearly $1 million.
That makes this a decision about the town center as much as about one store. The library matters here for a separate reason too. In August, the Board of Health made a Title 5 inspection a condition of occupancy for the library building project.
Where the Town's Reading of the Data Differs
Not everyone agrees on the facts yet, and the record lays out the disagreements in detail.
The Board of Health. When the Pirris met with the board on May 27, member Tony Mariano said the school plant was underused but needed to hold a reserve. He also passed along that the state had said no capacity was available. The board and its consulting engineer said a replacement septic system similar to the old one could work in its current spot. Pirri answered that the expanded Ferns plan needs more than that. The board declined to support a connection to the plant, though members said that as individuals they hoped Ferns would reopen.
The five-month surge. Weston & Sampson's flow chart for June 2025 through June 2026 shows a jump on November 17 and 18, 2025, with readings that stayed high through March. Select Board Chair Christine Stevens said, "I have a hard time believing someone came all the way to Carlisle to dump 7,000 gallons." Town Facilities Director Stephen Connearney offered a more ordinary explanation:
"During these months, the buildings are occupied during evening hours and on weekends for sporting events, performances, practices, and other community activities, resulting in significantly more people using the facility's restrooms and other plumbing fixtures than during normal school operations."
He also listed cleaning, maintenance, leaks or damaged underground piping as possible causes. He noted that the operator usually alerts the town when daily flow goes above roughly 1,500 gallons. At the August 26 School Committee meeting, member Brian Waterson said the school facilities manager would analyze the unusual flow data once the school year was underway.
Who does the engineering. Weston & Sampson designed the plant and services it, and the Pirris hired the same firm for the $55,700 feasibility study. Select Board member Rebekah Vieira said on the record that the study should come from an independent firm. Pat Cotton of Weston & Sampson replied that the flow data is public and is reported to MassDEP every month. On August 25, Town Administrator Ryan McLane said the town and the applicant had each hired Weston & Sampson without knowing the other had. He said the town would likely need independent verification of any findings. By September 8, the town said it was working with the firm to reconcile its water and sewer demand data after people raised questions about the chart circulated in August.
The owners' October update calls early results "encouraging." It says final engineering still has to confirm how much capacity is responsibly available once school needs and regulatory limits are counted. As of this weekend, no public town record gives a final capacity figure.
The Interim Idea Nobody Has Approved
One newer detail could change the timeline. The owners say MassDEP is willing to consider a limited interim wastewater setup, as long as it has a defined end date and an enforceable commitment to a permanent fix. Under that condition, any interim operation could begin only after a firm plan for permanent infrastructure is in place. No interim approach has been approved, and neither has the Banta Davis route.
By the owners' account, any temporary reopening depends on having a firm, enforceable plan for permanent wastewater infrastructure. Which permanent route that would be is still part of the public process.
What Is on Tuesday's Agenda
The Select Board meets Tuesday, October 6, at 7 p.m. in the Clark Room at Town Hall, 66 Westford Street. It is a hybrid meeting. The Special Town Meeting review on the agenda includes:
- The Cranberry Bog House issue and the Article 97 land swap
- The Demolition Delay Bylaw
- Pirri's request for a wastewater study
- Whether a Special Town Meeting is needed at all
- Possible votes on warrant article recommendations
On September 22, member Scott Triola said neither Ferns nor the land swap was ready. He noted the board had only placeholder language for a Ferns article and no clear idea of what the town would be asked to fund. McLane said that since the warrant had not been posted, the board could still change the date or postpone the meeting altogether. Six other articles are planned. They include the $20,000 Community Preservation grant for trail maintenance, a drainage and cistern easement at Woodward Village, and a conservation cluster at 75 West Street.
The owners have described the Ferns request as limited. It would cover Town funding only for design and permitting of the shared wastewater infrastructure, not the Ferns building. A yes vote would not approve construction or commit the town to a route or a cost. Their October update says the timing and form of any Ferns-related action are still under discussion.
Residents can attend in person or remotely on Tuesday. The owners' project journal and the Carlisle Mosquito both track each step. Comments can go to the Select Board directly or to the owners at [email protected].
A small lot, a constrained well and a septic system with no room to grow are the same limits that shape many older properties around Carlisle Center. If you'd like a straightforward read on how limits like these apply to your own property, Peggy Dowcett has worked in Carlisle since 1993 and brings construction experience to the question. Work With Peggy.
