N.E.S.P., LLC lists Clay Rockefeller and Jerry Pucillo as managers. The GOAT News sent 18 written questions on Sept. 4 and called twice. There has been no response.

By John Barrella

MIDDLEBOROUGH — Nine days before the Zoning Board of Appeals takes up the proposed East Grove Street surf park again, the applicant has not answered questions about where the project’s water will come from, who bears the risk if abutters’ wells are affected, and what the town can recover if the project fails.

The applicant is N.E.S.P., LLC.

According to its filing with the Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, the company was organized on Nov. 25, 2025, and lists two managers: Clay Rockefeller and Jerry Pucillo. Its resident agent is Middleborough attorney Michael P. O’Shaughnessy, who represents the company before the ZBA. All three list the same business address — 43 East Grove Street, Suite 5 — which is also the address of record for the LLC itself.

Rockefeller, a Rhode Island developer, and Pucillo, a Weymouth-based real estate consultant, described the project to The Boston Globe in June as a roughly $80 million development on the former Schobel Farm at 177 East Grove Street, built around a six-acre lagoon producing waves up to 7 feet, operating nine to 10 months a year and employing more than 120 people. Rockefeller told the Globe he hoped to open sometime in 2028. The Globe reported the developers were still seeking equity partners and debt financing.

The GOAT News sent 18 written questions to O’Shaughnessy on Sept. 4, grouped by topic — the ownership of the entity, the seven-lot subdivision filed alongside the project, the wave technology vendor, water supply, and the town’s legal and financial exposure — with a deadline of 5 p.m. Sept. 10.

No response arrived by that deadline. The GOAT called O’Shaughnessy’s office on Friday and again Monday morning. Both calls reached voicemail. Messages were left. As of publication, none of the questions has been addressed.

There is no obligation on an applicant or its counsel to answer a reporter. The questions are published because the matters they raise are before two town boards this month, and because residents and board members can ask them directly at a public hearing.

The record on the project has grown over the summer. A notice of intent filed with the Conservation Commission on July 21 describes the work as “the construction of a surf park, three buildings, accessory structures, thirty-five cottage style motel units, parking, landscaping, a stormwater management system, and associated grading.” A notice of hearing for N.E.S.P. was posted July 14. A traffic impact study for the related Fall Brook Subdivision was filed July 7.

The subdivision is the larger footprint. A legal advertisement published this spring identifies a definitive plan entitled “Definitive Plan for N.E.S.P., LLC Fall Brook Subdivision,” at 177 East Grove Street, Map and Lot 072-2616, prepared by the engineering firm Bohler.

Among the GOAT’s questions: whether Rockefeller and Pucillo are personally, or through any parent entity, guaranteeing the company’s obligations to the town — and if not, “what does the town have recourse to besides the land itself?” The questions also asked what capital is committed to the project and whether any of it is contingent on permits not yet obtained.

Water drew the sharpest questions, because water is the town’s live problem. Middleborough operates under a state withdrawal permit with a ceiling on how much it can draw, and is in the middle of a PFAS compliance effort that brought a $62 million treatment plant proposal to Town Meeting in June, on top of a roughly $33 million facility already under construction on East Grove Street.

The subject has already surfaced at the Select Board. At the board’s July 20 meeting, according to the minutes, Crystal Way resident Gerry Boissonneault raised concerns about the surf park discussion on the agenda, and Select Board member Brian Giovanoni said water could be provided as long as the town does not exceed its withdrawal permit.

The GOAT asked what the projected initial fill and annual makeup volume would be for the lagoon, and what the source would be. It asked whether the applicant would fund independent baseline testing of abutters’ private wells before construction. And it asked, verbatim: “If abutters’ private wells are drawn down or contaminated, will N.E.S.P., LLC indemnify those homeowners directly, or is their remedy to sue?”

Other questions went to what the boards will and will not see before they vote. “Will the town be given the wave system’s certified operating and safety specifications before the special permit is voted, or after?” And on appeals: “Will N.E.S.P., LLC indemnify the town for the cost of defending any appeal of the ZBA or Planning Board decisions? Yes or no.”

The wave system is supplied by Wavegarden, a Spanish company. The GOAT asked whether it has a U.S. entity subject to service of process in Massachusetts, and whether its liability to N.E.S.P. is capped by contract — not the figure, but whether a cap exists.

Several questions concerned what happens after approval: who owns, maintains and insures the subdivision’s roadways and stormwater structures in perpetuity, what security covers defects found after a road is accepted as a public way, whether the town would be named as an additional insured and at what limits, and what the applicant commits to on police, fire and EMS costs and repair of Route 28 from construction traffic.

None of that is unusual to ask. Municipal boards negotiate those terms routinely, and in Massachusetts a special permit granting authority may impose conditions, safeguards and limitations on an approval.

The project is already touching town business. On Tuesday’s Planning Board agenda, among $6,453.75 in consultant invoices up for payment, is $2,925 to Apex for review work on the Fall Brook Subdivision.

The ZBA hearing on the surf park is continued to Sept. 24. The GOAT News will publish any response from the applicant or its counsel in full, at whatever length they choose to give it.

Disclosure: The author serves on the Middleborough Finance Committee and the Town Manager Search Committee. Neither body has any role in special permit applications or subdivision approval.

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The questions The GOAT News sent the surf park’s attorney

John Barrella

The GOAT News sent the following questions to attorney Michael P. O’Shaughnessy on Sept. 4, 2026, with a response deadline of 5 p.m. Sept. 10. O’Shaughnessy represents N.E.S.P., LLC, the applicant for the proposed surf park at 177 East Grove Street, before the Zoning Board of Appeals.

No response was received by the deadline. The GOAT called his office on Friday, Sept. 11, and again on the morning of Monday, Sept. 14. Both calls reached voicemail.

They are published here so residents and board members can put them directly to the applicant at the continued hearing on Sept. 24. We will publish any response in full.

Entity and partners

1. N.E.S.P., LLC files at 43 East Grove Street, Suite 5 — your office address. Where is the LLC’s actual principal place of business, and who are its managers and members?

[The company’s filing with the Secretary of the Commonwealth, reviewed by The GOAT after these questions were sent, lists Clay Rockefeller and Jerry Pucillo as managers and attorney O’Shaughnessy as resident agent, all at 43 East Grove Street, Suite 5.]

2. Are Clay Rockefeller and Jerry Pucillo personally, or through any parent entity, guaranteeing N.E.S.P., LLC’s obligations to the Town of Middleborough? If not, what does the town have recourse to besides the land itself?

3. What capital is currently committed to an $80 million project, and is any of it contingent on permits your client has not yet obtained?

The seven-lot subdivision

4. The ZBA petition covers roughly 20 acres. The Form C covers 93.5 acres and seven commercial lots. What is planned for the other six lots, and will indemnification for those uses be negotiated now or separately, lot by lot?

5. The Fall Brook Subdivision proposes town-facing roadways and stormwater structures. Who owns, maintains and insures those in perpetuity, and will N.E.S.P. indemnify the town against failure of that drainage system?

6. If the roads are offered for acceptance as public ways, what bond or security covers defects discovered after acceptance?

Wavegarden and the vendor chain

7. Wavegarden is a Spanish company. Does it have a U.S. entity subject to service of process in Massachusetts?

8. Is Wavegarden’s liability to N.E.S.P., LLC capped by contract? If a mechanical failure injures a patron, does that cap leave the town or the injured party exposed?

9. Will the town be given the wave system’s certified operating and safety specifications before the special permit is voted, or after?

Water — the concern residents raised

10. What is the projected initial fill and annual makeup volume for a six-acre lagoon, and what is the source?

11. If abutters’ private wells are drawn down or contaminated, will N.E.S.P., LLC indemnify those homeowners directly, or is their remedy to sue?

12. Will the applicant fund independent baseline well testing before construction, and post security against the results?

The town’s exposure

13. Will N.E.S.P., LLC indemnify the town for the cost of defending any appeal of the ZBA or Planning Board decisions? Yes or no.

14. Will the town be named as an additional insured during construction and operation, and at what limits?

15. If the lagoon is later determined to fall under 105 CMR 435, who pays for compliance — the applicant, or the town that permitted it?

16. What is the applicant’s written commitment on police, fire and EMS costs, and on Route 28 road repair from construction traffic?

The questions above are reproduced as sent, except for two concerning matters outside this application.

Sources: Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, business entity filing for N.E.S.P., LLC (ID 001930286); Town of Middleborough filings, including the Fall Brook Subdivision legal advertisement, the notice of intent for 0 East Grove Street, the notice of hearing for N.E.S.P., the Fall Brook traffic impact study, Select Board minutes of July 20, 2026, and the Planning Board agenda of Sept. 15, 2026; The Boston Globe, June 27, 2026; site rendering prepared by Bohler Engineering.

Disclosure: The author serves on the Middleborough Finance Committee and the Town Manager Search Committee. Neither body has any role in special permit applications or subdivision approval.