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My phone now says it's 7:00 and 
therefore I will call this meeting  

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of the Bedford Planning Board to order 
and uh February 24th, 2026. Six. First,  

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I must begin by reading the statements 
from the governor and government.

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Pursuant to legislation S 2475 extending the 
suspension on certain provisions of the open  

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meeting all GL38 paragraph 20, this meeting of 
the Bedford Planning Board will be conducted via  

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remote participation to the greatest extent 
possible. No in one person uh attendance of  

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members of the public will be permitted but every 
effort will be made to ensure that the public can  

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adequately access the proceedings in real time 
via technological means. In the event that we're  

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unable to do so despite best efforts, we will post 
on the town's website an audio or video recording  

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transcript or other comprehensive repres represent 
record of proceedings as soon as possible after  

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the meeting. Thank you one and all for listening 
to that and it's also notifying to all attendees  

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that the meeting is being recorded and which we 
much appreciated and we are now at full strength  

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and I believe the um first topic on the agenda 
is a comprehensive plan update and it might be  

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Jennifer Goldson here to speak on this. Am I 
correct? Yes. Hi Steve. Thank you so much. Jen  

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Goldson here. Um Austin and I have a Oh, can you 
hear me? We can hear you and thank you. Yes, thank  

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you. Did you want me to take over? Yeah, go ahead. 
Can I also just interject, Mr. Chair, u that we  

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have a handful of people in the audience who are 
interested in the subdivision application, which  

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late this afternoon was requested to be continued 
without testimony. And so for I just thought we  

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might save Oh, is this the 145 Davis Road? Yeah, 
145 Davis Road is not going to be heard this  

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evening. And um I didn't I didn't get through to 
all the abutters I was aware of and I do see at  

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least two in the audience. Okay, that now do we 
do we need to move to continue this to a future  

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meeting? Well, one option would be to take it out 
of order and continue it to a future meeting. Let  

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let's let's do that. Then we we can have that and 
then my memory won't be taxed any longer. Is there  

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a motion to uh continue the meeting the hearing 
for 145 Davis Road, Jeffrey Circle, subdivision  

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plan to the next meeting. So move. Second. Second. 
Okay. Thank you. Roll call vote. Todd Hi, Don. Hi,  

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Chris. Just point of clarification that is March 
10th. Yes. I I just said a future meeting because  

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we we need them to speak. Well, it needs you 
need if you don't continue to a date certain,  

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we'll have to readvertise it. So, okay. For the 
time being, I would just ask you continue it to  

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March 10th. March 10th. Wonderful date. I like 
that one. And how do you vote? John I. Chris I.  

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And the chair votes I. All right. Now we are going 
to go back to um Jennifer and Austin. Whomever of  

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you would like to speak first. We are all ears. 
Thank you. Appreciate it. Yeah, we're happy to be  

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here. I'm Jen Goldson. I'm the owner and founding 
founding uh uh person founder of Jam Goldson,  

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my firm that I created about 20 years ago. We've 
been doing uh comprehensive plans like this uh  

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as well as community engagement, housing plans, 
housing trust, and uh and we've met some of you,  

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but not all of you. So, what we what we thought 
we'd do is do a presentation just giving a status  

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report of what has been happening. There's a lot 
that's been happening. I bet you've been involved  

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with some of it. I know that um that some of your 
members on the committee uh have been very very um  

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instrumental in having some extremely successful 
engagement over the past several several months  

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and uh we're going to present a little bit about 
what we've learned and where we are in the process  

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and then what's coming up next. There's some 
important uh things coming up including working  

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sessions in April that we hope you all can 
go to and we'll tell you more about that as  

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we get into it. So Austin, I think you should be 
able to share your screen as a panelist, right?

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And uh you can just go to the the next slide. 
So our team is a little bigger than who you see  

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here. Austin is our project manager and he really 
keeps everything going on a day-to-day basis. He's  

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very organized and uh and he's been your main 
point of contact. I'm the project director. Um,  

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and then we have a couple people that are 
working more behind the scenes. Lucy Corlet  

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is one of our project assistants and Flavio Vila 
um is also a project assistant and they've done  

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um quite a bit of mapping and analysis and and 
and doing things behind the scenes. Uh you may  

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see them from time to time, but mostly you'll see 
me and Austin. Next slide. So first I just want to  

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say that this has been an extremely collaborative 
effort and that's the kind of project that we  

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that we enjoy and actually seek out and uh 
the planning department the comprehensive  

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plan advisory committee and just the community 
has had a a lot of energy towards engaging in  

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this so far. So we wanted to just upfront just 
thank everyone for for the momentum um so far.

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Uh so the the comprehensive plan is 
I'm sure I'm sure a lot of this may  

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be review. Um there may also be people 
watching who it's the first time they've  

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heard of a comprehensive plan. So we wanted to 
go through a little bit of the basics before  

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we get into the meat of what's been 
going on. But a comprehensive plan is  

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uh really a roadmap for the next decade for 
Bedford. Uh it helps you to align decisions  

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um anticipate change and then connect investments 
to community priorities. It's a it's really meant  

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to be a big push to get community engagement so 
that decision makers like yourselves and other  

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boards and committees in the in the community 
can really understand where the community wants  

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to see the town going and what's realistic 
um as well for for the town. What kind of  

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uh implementation capacity do you have? Where can 
you get funding? All of those things will be part  

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of really the next phase when we think about 
strategies. But what we've been doing so far is  

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trying to understand what are the things that uh 
community members really value about Bedford and  

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where what are they looking to improve upon, where 
do they want to go in the future. Next next slide.

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So we we believe in deep public engagement and 
I think that's one of the reasons why Bedford  

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hired us. Um, we have a very strong track record 
of of engaging communities in in this discussion.  

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We think this is probably the most important 
discussion these community members will have  

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in the next decade um just about the future of 
the town. And so we we do everything we can to  

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get the word out and uh and that includes um 
uh well we'll talk more about the the different  

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kinds of engagement we've done, but essentially 
our our goal is to have both both deep and broad  

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conversations. So we say deep public engagement 
here but it's also broad public engagement. Some  

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people won't be able to contribute in a deep way 
and that's okay. Um but we want everyone to have  

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the opportunity to participate at the level that 
they can. So we have some shorter ways people can  

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engage and we have some deeper ways people can 
engage. Raise your hand if you were part of a I  

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know a couple of you were but if you were part of 
a meeting in a box that happened. Yeah. Yeah. So  

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that was that's an example of a deeper way that 
you can engage. you can really have a in-depth  

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conversation for a couple of hours. Um, shorter 
ways are uh, you know, stopping by a pop-up table  

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and uh, participating in an activity or um, or 
even the survey could be considered a shorter way.  

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It's not it's not short short, but it's not as 
long as a meeting in a box. Um, or even something  

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that we did online that we call the crowd map, 
but it's basically an interactive map online. So,  

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that's kind of a quicker way. you know, you could 
spend a long time on it or you could pop in and  

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say, "I want to see improvements here and I want 
to preserve this." Um, our plans are also data  

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informed and uh and we'll go through everything 
we've done to date, including the existing  

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conditions summary, which Austin will present to 
you uh in more detail. And then uh really grounded  

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once we get to the strategy stage u grounded in in 
in actionable strategies that are aligned. So you  

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can have actionable strategies, but if they're 
not aligned with what the community is looking  

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for and what's realistic for the community, what 
kind of regional things are going on, uh what kind  

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of resources are out there. So being both aligned 
and actionable are really important. Uh all right,  

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next slide. So we are kind of straddling. We're 
sort of at the end of phase two, starting to  

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enter into phase three. In the first phase, we we 
really worked um to try to understand Bedford and  

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we put together uh an analysis that's backed up by 
Excel spreadsheets um that are very detailed and  

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we put it into a summary format that um that the 
department the planning department has reviewed  

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and I know the planning department also sent that 
out to department managers back in late August,  

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early September. to also review um the committee 
has also um uh reviewed this and uh and I want  

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to just say that tonight we'll present some of the 
key findings but but Austin's really going to just  

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touch the surface of it because there actually 
is a very robust analysis around the you know  

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we didn't want to spend an hour talking to you 
about it or two hours so we're just hitting the  

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highlights so if you do have other questions or 
or want to dive in deeper just let us now and I  

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think you got that um deliverable in your packet. 
So you should be able to uh see the whole thing as  

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well. All right. And then starting really in 
October, we really kicked off this phase two  

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which is really getting out into the community 
and trying to understand what are the issues you  

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see today and and what is the future that you hope 
for um that this plan will help you address. and  

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we spent several months starting in October uh and 
really starting to wind down now around trying to  

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understand that. And so tonight, Austin's going to 
also talk through what we learned from that. He's  

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going to go through the different tools that were 
out there, some of the things that that people  

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told us, and then uh and then hit the highlights 
of um of what themes came out of that. And then  

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we're about to enter into this phase three. This 
is where people, you know, a lot of committee  

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members that I work with are itching to get to 
this point um where we're really talking about  

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strategies, we're talking about zoning, we're 
talking about local initiatives, talking about  

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staffing, resources, etc. for the next decade. 
So, that's what we're just about to dive into.  

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And that phase will really go through until into 
the summer, into the middle of the summer. um we  

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don't like to shortch change that or the visioning 
or really any of these phases but but we like to  

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really come up with um a plan that has a lot of 
ownership. So we think that the engagement at each  

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phase is very important including this strategy 
phase and then at the end we'll basically wrap up  

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lay lay it all out. By then the decisions will 
have been made um by the time you get into phase  

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four and we're basically making it pretty by then. 
Uh we're we're kind of uh pulling in photographs,  

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laying it out, working with our graphic designer, 
making sure that you think the way it it is laid  

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out and looks and the photos that we're using 
is speaking to the community in the way you  

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want to convey the messages. Um and then we also 
talk about implementation and how Bedford wants  

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to go about implementing what kind of oversight 
etc. That all happens in phase four. All right.  

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So you can see also at the bottom um we have a 
little graphic that just shows how the phases  

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are really overlapped. There's not really a clean 
break like we're we're done and we're moving on.  

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Um they're all a bit overlap. All right, next 
slide. All right. So, I'm going to hand this off  

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to Austin who will walk you through that existing 
conditions summary profile and I'm sure he's happy  

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to answer questions and then uh and then we'll 
touch on excuse me engagement vision themes and  

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then we'll wrap up with next steps. All right, 
Austin. Hello everyone. Thank you so much for  

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having us here tonight. Um, I'm just going to 
touch on some highlights like Jen said because  

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um, the existing conditions summary is a summary 
of about 65 pages or so. So to touch on all 65  

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pages would definitely take more than two hours. 
So I'm just going to touch on a few highlights  

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um, per per the kind of elements of planning that 
we're coming to this comprehensive plan with that  

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have been really instrumental and valuable kind 
of findings that we've taken into the project. But  

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first, I want to talk about our purpose and our 
approach. So, the study of existing conditions is  

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something that's required in comprehensive plans 
per Massachusetts general laws. And traditionally,  

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they're very lengthy, very technical documents. 
Um, kind of a process document that can sometimes  

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get lost or get forgotten or not even get fully 
brought forward. So we want to make sure that all  

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the work that we're doing for the town establishes 
a really strong foundation for the community to be  

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planning for the next 10 years of really useful 
information that's relevant directly to the  

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project to the next stages of the project and to 
the next 10 years. So the elements as part of that  

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00:17:50,480 --> 00:17:57,040
planning study include land use, housing, economic 
development, natural and cultural resources, open  

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00:17:57,040 --> 00:18:02,800
space and recreation, services and facilities, 
and circulation and transportation. So, we really  

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wanted to make sure that going through all of 
that kind of breadth of information, we're right  

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sizing our research approach to the planning task 
that's at hand because there's a lot of different  

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technical studies. Um, like we conducted Bedford's 
housing study several years ago, and that's a more  

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in-depth way of diving into one of these details, 
but we wanted to make sure the study we were doing  

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was the right kind of tool for the job for this 
comprehensive planning project. So, we found out  

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that Bedford is growing, diversifying, and aging. 
Growing to about just over 14,000 residents in  

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2020 as of the 2020 census, diversifying with more 
than one in four residents now identifying as a  

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race other than white, and aging with 20% more 
residents over the age of 65 since the year 2010.  

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Population projections vary significantly though 
depending on the methodology that's used. Um,  

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and this is something that we're seeing that's 
pretty common throughout municipalities in the  

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region. It really depends on the local 
land use regulations, migration patterns,  

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um, both in the region and internationally. That's 
something I know that's kind of shifting quite a  

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bit past few years. Austin, could you hold a 
second? Um, do you want people to ask questions  

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00:19:19,920 --> 00:19:26,800
uh, while you're like right now Chris has his 
hand up. You know, I wonder if it I wonder  

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00:19:26,800 --> 00:19:31,520
Austin if it would be better to get through the 
answers might might become apparent and sort of  

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take them at the end. That's what what that's 
what my advice would be. Okay. Thank you Chris.

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00:19:39,920 --> 00:19:47,680
Okay. Thank you. So the the key factors kind of 
in in what the population projections could turn  

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out to be vary significantly. Um, so it it could 
be one of very two very different answers. Um,  

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but it will depend on how the next few years 
shake out and how Bedford kind of aims to meet  

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the the challenges and opportunities that it's 
facing. And when we studied housing in Bedford,  

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we found that there's a mismatch between the 
households and the homes available for them.  

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There's a lot more large homes than there are 
large households. And part of this is just because  

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of the fact that homes were built at one point 
and households change on a faster basis than the  

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homes themselves do. So for example, I know Jen's 
household recently got smaller because both of her  

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kids went away to college. So her household shrank 
significantly and now she has extra bedrooms  

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um that she's not really using. My household 
also got smaller cuz I'm now living in a studio  

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00:20:40,160 --> 00:20:46,000
by myself. So now I'm a oneperson household. Um, 
so examples like that are kind of show how quickly  

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the population's needs can change in terms of 
housing, but when a building lasts 100 years,  

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it can be slow for them to keep up. So, there's 
been a long-term trend toward smaller and smaller  

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household sizes. This is not just in Bedford, but 
it's true in in the region and also the nation.  

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And that means there's often a mismatch between 
what people need and what the household needs  

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are and the the available homes. And this means 
that even if Bedford's population doesn't grow in  

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terms of total number of people, there could be a 
need for housing production even just for smaller,  

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more accessible homes for an aging population 
or for people that are living alone or living  

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as a couple longer um longer in their lives. 
And we also looked at housing cost burden. And  

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so what we mean in the field when we're talking 
about cost burden is that your housing costs are  

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really high for your income. If you're a renter, 
that means your rent, your renters's insurance,  

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your utilities. If you're a homeowner, that means 
property taxes, mortgage, mortgage insurance,  

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etc. And if you're costbururdened, it means 
you're spending more than 30% of your income  

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on housing costs. If you're extremely 
costburdened, you're spending more than  

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50% of your income on those housing costs. And so 
in Bedford, what we found was that there are cost  

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burdens that extend not just to extremely low 
or very lowincome individuals and households,  

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but also to moderate income households. So there's 
a need need for more deeply affordable homes to  

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be certain, but still a need to home for homes 
that are affordable at 80% and even at 100% AMI.  

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And the AMI when we talk about that in the field 
as well is that kind of middle income level in  

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the region used to determine eligibility for 
affordable housing programs. Many are at 80%  

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AMI like those in chapter 40B. Um the community 
preservation act sets it at 100% AMI. Currently  

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the AMI for a family of four is 160,900. Um for 
a single person household to be qualified in  

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low income. That's up to 80% AMI. Here is 
a $92,650 income for a single person. So,  

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they qualify for subsidized housing under 40b. And 
you can see that just nearly a half of Bedford's  

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households that are in that range are spending 
either more than 30% or more than 50% of their  

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income on housing costs. and it's twothirds 
of households basically in the very low income  

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and extremely low income categories. So that 
kind of points to some significant challenges  

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with housing cost and the amount that people are 
having to pay to maintain their home in Bedford.

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We also looked at Bedford's local economy 
and we really learned that Bedford is a very  

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specialized and evolving employment hub. And 
when I said employment hub, I mean that more  

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people commute into Bedford than out during the 
day. This really reinforces Bedford's status as  

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uh a home of biotech companies and of industrial 
areas. Lots of people come into town to work every  

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day in those higher wage specialized sectors. 
And there's also opportunity there, not just  

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um the strength that Bedford has for the evolution 
of those sectors. um as spaces become vacant  

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or the economy changes um less toward biotech 
and more toward AI and other things like that,  

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the evolution of those sectors can give Bedford 
some opportunities for advanced manufacturing,  

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biotech, and defense R&D. And the live and work 
and hybrid employment environment also changes up  

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um Bedford's local economy as well. Some 
underutilized older office or commercial buildings  

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can see reuse and new uses. And more all day 
commerce because folks are maybe working hybrid  

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or having a flexible work schedule can lead to 
more revitalization of commercial corridors like  

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the great road. If there's more folks available 
at more times a day to get their laundry done,  

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to go to the cleaners, to go to a coffee 
shop, etc. When we looked at transportation,  

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we also found that the congestion patterns in 
Bedford are evolving. And this is both true  

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um in the traffic patterns as well as anecdotally 
partly because of remote and hybrid work. The peak  

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traffic patterns are more spread throughout 
the day now. Um so you're seeing more all day  

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congestion throughout town. There's also limited 
transit options in Bedford and low use of transit.  

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Um less than 1% of Bedford residents use transit 
to get to work. It could be that more residents  

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are using it for nonwork trips. Um but the g the 
options that are given are not um as conducive  

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to Bedford residents forgetting to work as they 
stand. There's also safety concerns at key areas  

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um with over a thousand crashes in since 2020. The 
pedestrian bicycle plan implementation has been  

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aligned with other ongoing projects like the great 
road master plan and to the extent possible the  

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um new traffic calming policy that's being 
rolled out. Um, so there's some alignment  

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there in terms of increasing safety. We 
also found that Bedford has a very active  

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community culture with lots of local event 
programming, a Bedford cultural district,  

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a local historic district that regulates exterior 
changes to the buildings in downtown Bedford,  

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and a significant number of documented historic 
resources. um though most of them are after the  

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year 1700 and scattered in a few specific places 
in town along corridors um and in specific areas.

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We also know that Bedford has a really valued 
areas of green space and recreation access.  

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There's abundant outdoor and indoor 
recreation facilities partly because  

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um Bedford was an early adopter of the Community 
Preservation Act at the 3% search charge level.  

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So that has given the town dedicated regular 
funding and access to those state distributions  

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to to get bonus money to dedicate to open space 
to historic preservation and community housing as  

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well. The green network covers nearly a third 
of the town um third of the town's area with  

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a federal wildlife refuge areas, town forests, 
neighborhood parks, centralized athletic fields,  

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and rail trail connections. 70% of the open 
space in town is permanently protected. And  

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most of that protection comes from the federal 
ownership in the wildlife refuge. Bedford  

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also has a reputation as a well-run local 
government known for outstanding schools,  

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prudent fiscal management, and robust public 
services. We found that some older facilities  

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may need some accessibility and adaptation 
upgrades in coming years, and succession  

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planning and workforce development are ongoing 
needs as they are for many small town governments.  

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So moving forward the key kind of points that we 
found to summarize that that 65page document that  

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itself was a summary of a lot of analysis that 
we had done on the back end is that Bedford's  

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not static. The community is evolving and ready 
to meet the changing circumstances. So we have  

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the kind of final edits incorporated from the 
planning department comments that we received a  

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few weeks ago and we're ready to post the latest 
draft on the project website for the public.  

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So, I'll pause here and take any comments or 
questions you have on this piece before I continue  

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on to the vision, themes, and goals. Okay, 
Chris, you have the floor. Thank you. Yeah. Uh,  

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first off, excuse me, great presentation. Uh, 
thank you so much for this. Will the the slides  

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be available? Sorry, I think I coughed exactly 
at the time of your the important part of your  

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question. Please will the slides be available? 
Absolutely. Absolutely. And second question,  

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if you go back to the population predictions, 
yes, and this is getting a bit into the weeds,

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but the the two projections which diverge 
dramatically after 2020, I'm Yeah. Did either of  

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those models attempt to go back to 1990 and then 
forward predict to 2020 to see how they did with  

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respect to reality? That is a great question. Um 
I I don't have that number off the top of my head,  

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but I know that um MAPC has been doing these 
projections for several decades now. Um so I can  

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I can go back through and have a double check of 
how close they were to reality. Yeah, I'm I'm very  

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curious, you know, how they they look, you know, 
five 10 years out if they have have projections  

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from from backways. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. I I'm 
I have a feeling that I'm recalling from the last  

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comprehensive plan that you all did um several 
years ago that the projections were expected  

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to be a little more stable. So, it looks like 
there was more growth than they were expecting.  

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um that could be partly due to some local land 
use regulation changes or any 40bs that might  

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have come through over the last 1015 years or so 
that could have impacted that. Um things like that  

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they can't really you can't predict a 40B. Yeah. 
Yeah. And that's you part of my question is that  

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they're you know they're going to have their model 
and then there are other things that they can't  

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never mind if the model is you the li the inherent 
limitations of the model itself. Yeah, you have,  

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you know, noisy inputs and you're not capturing 
all effects. Do the effects that you're not able  

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to capture in the model end up dwarfing the trends 
that that you're able to uh that you think you're  

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able to predict? That that's where I'm going with 
that. Yeah, Chris, those are great questions and  

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I'm always skeptical of the projections. You know, 
as a planner, you know, there's so much that could  

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that could change. I see Katherine has her hand 
up. Yeah, I was just going to comment on this that  

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um I actually raised with Austin the fact that 
last time there had been two sets of projections  

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um being produced around the time we were doing 
the plan um and that you know they they've varied  

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quite a bit and so we were interested to see well 
did one of them come out as right and the other  

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one wrong or whatever and it did actually come out 
in between the two um but but it's as a result of  

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that comment I think that they've shown again 
there are two different projections available  

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um so I think That's I mean that's an 
interesting point in it in its own right and  

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uh as they've explained it depends on it depends 
partly on what you do to follow on from the plan.  

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It depends partly on your own actions in terms of 
zoning but it also depends on all sorts of things  

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like turnover in the existing housing stock and a 
lot and the economy and lots of different things.  

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Um following on that, what about neighboring 
towns to us and yet because you're working  

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with a lot of towns, Jennifer, is MAPC 
their preferred U model that other towns  

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use. It depends. We typically present both 
just because we know that the they diverge  

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and in in my opinion it highlights the fact that 
nobody really knows what's going to happen. Um,  

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so I think it's safer to just use both, 
but sometimes communities have asked us to  

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uh use one over the other. All right. Thank you. 
You're welcome. Other questions or comments?

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All right. You want to go back to Can you 
presenting Austin? I would be pleased to.  

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All right. So, my next little presentation 
section is the draft, vision, themes,  

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and goals. And I'm going to again touch on these 
um in a higher level because I know you received  

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00:32:28,480 --> 00:32:33,200
more of the full content in your packet, and 
it wouldn't be nearly as fun for me to just  

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00:32:33,200 --> 00:32:41,920
read them verbatim. So, where this came from, 
68 678 participation points and counting. So,  

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by using all of these different ways to get input 
that Jen kind of touched on in the beginning,  

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the community survey that was held online, the 
crowd map, which is that tool where you can drop  

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00:32:51,200 --> 00:32:56,400
pins on the map, the meeting in a box, which I 
know some of you joined um and some that were able  

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00:32:56,400 --> 00:33:02,000
to be hosted by the advisory committee members um 
at town hall and at the library, as well as the  

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00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:07,920
inerson openhouse that we facilitated. using all 
those different ways. Um you've already exceeded  

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00:33:07,920 --> 00:33:12,800
the amount of public input from the previous 
comprehensive plan and we're only halfway  

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00:33:12,800 --> 00:33:18,320
through. So there's more public input planned 
um especially in this next stage in phase three  

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00:33:18,320 --> 00:33:24,000
where we'll be focusing on strategies with six 
in-person workshops scheduled for midappril. So,  

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00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:30,320
I wanted to touch on kind of that that overview of 
the public engagement process so far and what we  

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00:33:30,320 --> 00:33:36,240
heard because what we heard directly informed 
the vision, core themes and goals. We didn't  

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00:33:36,240 --> 00:33:42,160
invent those out of out of thin air. We took 
them through a a verbatim reading of everything  

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00:33:42,160 --> 00:33:47,520
that we had transcribed from the open houses, the 
workshops, the meetings in a box, and the survey.  

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We heard things like people want more walkability 
and bike accessibility, more affordable housing,  

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00:33:53,200 --> 00:33:58,560
meaning smaller units that are just easier to 
upkeep and more affordable to buy. Better public  

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00:33:58,560 --> 00:34:03,520
transportation options. Someone said, "I want to 
feel that my kids are safe when they walk or bike  

304
00:34:03,520 --> 00:34:08,640
to school." And one person said they're looking 
for a more overarching look and feel of the town  

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00:34:08,640 --> 00:34:13,920
to bring people together. And when we asked in 
the survey, "What do you love most about Bedford?"  

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00:34:13,920 --> 00:34:19,680
A quarter of people said that they love that 
it's a safe community. 20 just nearly 20% of  

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00:34:19,680 --> 00:34:25,280
people said that outstanding school public 
school system is what they loved most. Other  

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00:34:25,280 --> 00:34:30,160
responses were accessible open spaces and natural 
resources, the town's historic significance,  

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00:34:30,160 --> 00:34:38,080
and award-winning town services. Through the crowd 
map, we got a lot of very detailed space-based um  

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feedback that were partly drawing into the vision, 
themes, and goals and partly drawing directly into  

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00:34:42,960 --> 00:34:48,640
some strategy ideas that we're starting to work 
on behind the scenes. People suggested ideas like  

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00:34:48,640 --> 00:34:55,120
adding a new crosswalk to the school campus, 
more great roadfacing small shops to create a  

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00:34:55,120 --> 00:35:00,800
visually appealing walkable shopping area like 
Conquered Center or Lexington Center. And then  

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00:35:00,800 --> 00:35:06,000
ideas for Lumis Street in the Depot area being 
a potential second town center or common area if  

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00:35:06,000 --> 00:35:11,920
done well with buildings like the Blake Block more 
downtown cited as an example with green space,  

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00:35:11,920 --> 00:35:17,200
hidden parking, mixed use, outdoor seating, and 
public art. So people got a lot of good ideas  

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00:35:17,200 --> 00:35:21,360
flowing through the crowd map and we were really 
happy to see all of those all of those engagement  

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00:35:21,360 --> 00:35:28,320
points there. So in general the structure of the 
plan is a little bit like a Russian nesting doll.  

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The vision statement o overlies the whole thing. 
Um so that's kind of the guiding message of the  

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comprehensive plan. Each of the themes sits 
underneath that vision statement as one of the  

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00:35:41,200 --> 00:35:46,960
kind of themes of that vision. And each theme 
has a set of goals. The goals are designed to  

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00:35:46,960 --> 00:35:53,040
support that theme and the theme then supports the 
vision. So tonight's focus is just on the vision,  

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00:35:53,040 --> 00:35:57,120
themes and goals. The next layer under 
that is that each goal will have a set  

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00:35:57,120 --> 00:36:03,600
of strategy ideas. The strategies are much more 
specific ideas. Um like Jen mentioned earlier,  

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00:36:03,600 --> 00:36:08,160
which committees are going to do which kinds of 
actions over the next 10 years or if you want to  

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00:36:08,160 --> 00:36:13,120
study something else in particular, that's 
a strategy idea. So the goals, the vision,  

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00:36:13,120 --> 00:36:20,160
the themes um are more intentionally higher level 
because they're more about what you're aiming for  

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00:36:20,160 --> 00:36:26,800
rather than how you're going to get there. The 
plan is also going to include metrics. So that's  

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00:36:26,800 --> 00:36:31,200
part of the way that you'll be able to measure 
your progress toward the goals and toward the  

330
00:36:31,200 --> 00:36:36,640
vision in the themes. Those are specific ways 
to kind of measure that success. And so we'll  

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00:36:36,640 --> 00:36:45,680
be developing those in phases three and four as 
the strategy ideas are are worked on and revised.

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00:36:45,680 --> 00:36:51,840
So there's six themes in the plan and these 
themes are are both going to become chapters  

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00:36:51,840 --> 00:36:57,680
of the comprehensive plan itself but are also six 
themes that we heard from the public engagement  

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00:36:57,680 --> 00:37:02,720
and these have been workshopped with the the 
advisory committee in two separate meetings. Um,  

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00:37:02,720 --> 00:37:07,680
so we feel really good about presenting them here 
to you tonight. And we also have a public comment  

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00:37:07,680 --> 00:37:13,360
survey open on our project website to get more 
public feedback on these as well. So the first  

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00:37:13,360 --> 00:37:18,960
theme is safe and easy ways to get around. This 
is all about safety, about choice and how to  

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00:37:18,960 --> 00:37:25,120
get around town and about mitigating traffic. 
The second theme is vibrant village centers  

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00:37:25,120 --> 00:37:30,880
and a stronger local economy. This one's about 
strengthening what already exists in Bedford,  

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00:37:30,880 --> 00:37:37,920
about improving the quality and function of these 
spaces as they evolve. The third one is design  

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00:37:37,920 --> 00:37:44,560
history and a strong sense of place. This is about 
guiding how the town evolves. Really strengthening  

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00:37:44,560 --> 00:37:49,440
the community identity through public spaces 
and through design and through a celebration of  

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00:37:49,440 --> 00:37:56,560
the town's history. The fourth theme is homes 
that support choice, dignity, and belonging.  

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That's about providing the options that people 
need as their households evolve and as their needs  

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evolve and providing those options thoughtfully 
and in the right locations so that people can  

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have the kind of lives that they want to lead in 
Bedford. It's about choice, not about mandates.  

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00:38:11,760 --> 00:38:18,800
It's about adapting and allowing the homes to 
meet the needs of residents as they evolve. The  

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fifth theme is belonging, civic life, and shared 
spaces. This one's about civic involvement and  

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00:38:24,800 --> 00:38:30,000
about trust in local government. There's a lot of 
different ways in which communication has changed  

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00:38:30,000 --> 00:38:34,640
in the last 10 years since the last comprehensive 
plan. Social media has changed a lot. Internet  

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00:38:34,640 --> 00:38:39,600
communication is totally different. Um, so 
it's about making sure the town is up to speed,  

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00:38:39,600 --> 00:38:44,560
up to-date, and how people want to communicate, 
how they want to engage with local government on  

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adapting and meeting to resident needs um 
through the processes that the town uses,  

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the town's facilities, and also the 
town services. And theme six is outdoor  

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recreation and environmental stewardship. 
And this reflects a really strong community  

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identity with open spaces, with the town's 
environment, sustainability, and recreation.  

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So these themes are really kind of directional 
for the plan. Each theme will be given its own  

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00:39:11,440 --> 00:39:17,360
chapter of the plan so that we can go through in 
detail what those goals are and what the strategy  

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00:39:17,360 --> 00:39:24,240
ideas are for each of the themes. And the goal is 
for it to be aspirational. So it's partly about  

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00:39:24,240 --> 00:39:31,520
what success feels like in 2036 after 10 years. 
It doesn't really mandate um specific projects  

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00:39:31,520 --> 00:39:36,880
or regulatory changes in these themes. those 
are more to come in the strategies over this  

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00:39:36,880 --> 00:39:44,480
next phase. So this these themes start to outline 
your roadmap um which is much more of a a kind of  

363
00:39:44,480 --> 00:39:50,560
flexible approach to how you work in the next 
10 years rather than a very rigid blueprint. So  

364
00:39:50,560 --> 00:39:57,520
you've got flexibility in how you approach meeting 
the vision. It's really about how the town guides  

365
00:39:57,520 --> 00:40:03,360
change over the next 10 years. So as I mentioned 
earlier um the goals are intentionally high level.  

366
00:40:03,360 --> 00:40:08,560
The themes are intentionally high level and they 
reflect um directly what we heard from the public  

367
00:40:08,560 --> 00:40:14,880
input so far and how you go about them through 
the specific strategies that we'll be working  

368
00:40:14,880 --> 00:40:18,720
um on over the next several months 
are flexible to lots of different  

369
00:40:18,720 --> 00:40:32,160
approaches. So I'll pause here if there are any 
questions or comments on the themes thus far.

370
00:40:32,160 --> 00:40:42,000
I don't see any hands said presently. You You must 
be dazzling everybody. Austin can press on. Okay,  

371
00:40:42,000 --> 00:40:48,320
I will. So, next I just wanted to touch on the 
project timeline. Jen gave a little bit more of  

372
00:40:48,320 --> 00:40:53,680
a highlevel overview of the four phases of the 
comprehensive plan and we're just entering phase  

373
00:40:53,680 --> 00:40:59,680
three of four right now. Overall, the project 
schedule, we're operating on an expedited project  

374
00:40:59,680 --> 00:41:05,040
timeline to adhere to a contract end date of 
the end of October of this year, both on time  

375
00:41:05,040 --> 00:41:11,840
and on budget. So, when we first met with um Tony 
really in the end of the summer this past summer,  

376
00:41:11,840 --> 00:41:17,120
to kind of nail out the project management plan, 
the schedule of advisory committee meetings,  

377
00:41:17,120 --> 00:41:22,480
we scheduled all of those meetings and made the 
tentative agendas for the meetings up to a year  

378
00:41:22,480 --> 00:41:28,560
in advance. Um, so that's kind of shown on this 
schedule here. Each of the brown tiles is one  

379
00:41:28,560 --> 00:41:34,320
of the advisory committee meetings that we already 
have an agenda in mind for. So we're just entering  

380
00:41:34,320 --> 00:41:39,840
phase three right now. Phase three is all about 
the strategies as we've said. And in phase three,  

381
00:41:39,840 --> 00:41:46,400
we're planning multiple stages of review and input 
from both town staff as well as members of boards,  

382
00:41:46,400 --> 00:41:51,280
committees, and commissions and the public 
over the next several months. So phase three is  

383
00:41:51,280 --> 00:41:58,800
going to last until about midsummer or so. Um and 
there will be kind of a a volley of review stages  

384
00:41:58,800 --> 00:42:05,440
um bouncing back from town staff to us to the 
advisory committee to us to the public to the  

385
00:42:05,440 --> 00:42:10,880
advisory committee. So there's lots of layers 
of review in that. Um, and through revision and  

386
00:42:10,880 --> 00:42:14,960
and revising and revising the strategy list, 
we think you're going to really come up with  

387
00:42:14,960 --> 00:42:21,440
something that is really strongly vetted by all of 
the key stakeholders and the community in Bedford.  

388
00:42:21,440 --> 00:42:26,880
So the first up is kind of a preliminary staff 
review and we've sent a preliminary list of  

389
00:42:26,880 --> 00:42:31,760
strategy ideas that our team has prepared 
to the planning department staff so they're  

390
00:42:31,760 --> 00:42:36,000
able to look at it this week and get us some 
preliminary comments before we bring it to the  

391
00:42:36,000 --> 00:42:43,120
advisory committee at their next meeting. The 
second layer of review is the public strategy  

392
00:42:43,120 --> 00:42:48,080
working sessions. Those are scheduled for April 
and I'll touch on those in just a second. Um our  

393
00:42:48,080 --> 00:42:54,800
agenda and plan for those. The third is another 
staff board and committee commission review.  

394
00:42:54,800 --> 00:43:00,640
This time with a focus on implementation needs. 
So once the strategy list has gone through two  

395
00:43:00,640 --> 00:43:05,920
layers of review or so with the advisory committee 
with the public and then with some word smmithing  

396
00:43:05,920 --> 00:43:11,360
and adjustments from from our team, we'll bring 
it to staff boards committees and commissions  

397
00:43:11,360 --> 00:43:16,640
to focus directly on implementation. So now that 
the strategies have been ironed out a bit more,  

398
00:43:16,640 --> 00:43:21,600
what would you actually need if you're responsible 
for implementing this? What are your staffing  

399
00:43:21,600 --> 00:43:26,400
needs? What are your funding needs? What are 
the timeline considerations for this? And we can  

400
00:43:26,400 --> 00:43:32,960
bring all of that input into the implementation 
matrix closer to the end of the plan. So there's  

401
00:43:32,960 --> 00:43:40,160
advisory committee review between each stage 
of the engagement there. And open right now,  

402
00:43:40,160 --> 00:43:44,720
as I mentioned earlier, is a public comment survey 
on the vision, themes, and goals that you received  

403
00:43:44,720 --> 00:43:50,640
in your packet. We've tentatively planned to hold 
this open until this coming Wednesday, March 3rd,  

404
00:43:50,640 --> 00:43:55,600
um because that gives us enough time to summarize 
all the public feedback and bring it to the  

405
00:43:55,600 --> 00:44:00,000
advisory committee for their next meeting. So for 
any of the members of the public watching, that  

406
00:44:00,000 --> 00:44:06,640
is available on the project website. The link is 
here. It's tinyurl.com/bedford comprehensive plan.  

407
00:44:06,640 --> 00:44:15,040
That's the hub website for the project that we've 
set up to host all of the engagement activities.

408
00:44:15,040 --> 00:44:18,800
And next up, as I mentioned earlier, 
are the strategy working sessions. So,  

409
00:44:18,800 --> 00:44:24,000
the tentative dates we have held for these um and 
we're in the process of reserving those spaces,  

410
00:44:24,000 --> 00:44:29,920
as I understand it, with town staff are Sunday, 
April 12th at Town Hall in the Read Room and  

411
00:44:29,920 --> 00:44:35,760
Saturday, April 18th at Bedford High School in 
the cafeteria. We're planning for these to be  

412
00:44:35,760 --> 00:44:41,040
larger scale public events um so that we wanted 
those kind of big spaces so that we could have a  

413
00:44:41,040 --> 00:44:47,680
lot of kind of interactive activity. The design 
is some 2-hour small group discussions. There's  

414
00:44:47,680 --> 00:44:54,160
one session for each theme of the plan. So, 
six sessions total split over those two days.  

415
00:44:54,160 --> 00:45:01,920
There'll be themes 1 through 3 on April 12th and 
themes 4 through 6 on April 18th. Our plan is to  

416
00:45:01,920 --> 00:45:06,320
have these open to everyone. So whether you're a 
member of the public, whether you're town staff, a  

417
00:45:06,320 --> 00:45:11,680
member of a board or committee, um they're really 
intended to be open for everyone. The small group  

418
00:45:11,680 --> 00:45:18,320
discussions will kind of break down into basically 
going through the strategy ideas one by one for  

419
00:45:18,320 --> 00:45:24,720
each goal in that theme that's in that session. So 
there will be opportunities to talk with friends  

420
00:45:24,720 --> 00:45:30,400
and neighbors about what works about a strategy, 
if a strategy wouldn't work too well, if what they  

421
00:45:30,400 --> 00:45:35,280
think about it, basically if they need any 
revisions to it for them to feel like it's  

422
00:45:35,280 --> 00:45:39,600
it's not a deal breaker and they could support 
it in the plan or if they have any new ideas  

423
00:45:39,600 --> 00:45:46,960
that they want to bring forward. So, it's a pretty 
open-ended um but very designed workshop activity  

424
00:45:46,960 --> 00:45:52,640
for members of the public, boards, committees, and 
town staff to engage with. We'll also have a kind  

425
00:45:52,640 --> 00:45:57,760
of presentation on the comprehensive plan process 
at the beginning as well as remarks from some  

426
00:45:57,760 --> 00:46:02,240
local resource leaders. Um, and those are kind of 
folks that we're going to want to be recruiting  

427
00:46:02,240 --> 00:46:07,520
over the next few weeks if they want to offer a 
few words at the beginning of that session because  

428
00:46:07,520 --> 00:46:12,880
each session being one of the themes of the plan 
is going to have kind of a theme. So, for example,  

429
00:46:12,880 --> 00:46:18,800
in theme four, which is all about housing, if 
there's either a member of town staff or a member  

430
00:46:18,800 --> 00:46:24,320
of a border committee or just an active advocate 
in the community that wants to say a few words at  

431
00:46:24,320 --> 00:46:31,120
the beginning about the existing conditions of 
what housing is and what Bedford's status is,  

432
00:46:31,120 --> 00:46:36,080
um, in regards to that theme, they can offer a 
few words there as well, and we'll kind of coach  

433
00:46:36,080 --> 00:46:41,200
them through how to help set the stage for the 
working session. And then we'll break down into  

434
00:46:41,200 --> 00:46:47,440
small groups. And folks will get into groups 
of three to five or so and work through each  

435
00:46:47,440 --> 00:46:53,920
of the strategies. Um rank the ideas, propose any 
revisions to the strategies or suggest new ones  

436
00:46:53,920 --> 00:46:59,280
if they think there's a gap to help meet those 
goals. So we we're going to need your help sharing  

437
00:46:59,280 --> 00:47:05,040
the word to this. We're going to post it on our 
project website with a set of RSVP links. Um,  

438
00:47:05,040 --> 00:47:09,920
these will be public meetings, so an RSVP will 
not be required, but we do encourage it because  

439
00:47:09,920 --> 00:47:16,480
it helps us know how much food to bring. And 
it also helps us know um or helps us uh get  

440
00:47:16,480 --> 00:47:20,880
folks email addresses so that we can send them the 
meeting materials in advance. We'll send them the  

441
00:47:20,880 --> 00:47:26,880
pre-work packet, which is basically all of the 
strategy ideas with some space to take notes,  

442
00:47:26,880 --> 00:47:31,520
um, some space to jot down a ranking of the 
strategies in advance. We're not going to  

443
00:47:31,520 --> 00:47:36,000
collect the pre-work packets. It's just for folks 
to start thinking about the ideas before they  

444
00:47:36,000 --> 00:47:42,880
come to the meeting. Yeah, Jen, go ahead. I see 
your hand up. I didn't want to break your flow,  

445
00:47:42,880 --> 00:47:48,560
but you keep saying um ranking and it's actually 
rating. I know it's very easy to confuse those  

446
00:47:48,560 --> 00:47:53,040
two. Thank you. But yeah, we're not ranking them 
is basically putting them in order and rating  

447
00:47:53,040 --> 00:47:58,080
them is talking about which ones we really 
support, which ones we don't support at all,  

448
00:47:58,080 --> 00:48:04,480
and which ones we're feeling a little bit in 
the middle about. So that's what the activities.  

449
00:48:04,480 --> 00:48:10,400
That's exactly right. So there's two kind of 
key pieces of feedback that we'll be collecting  

450
00:48:10,400 --> 00:48:16,880
through these working sessions. The first is each 
small group is going to be taking notes about each  

451
00:48:16,880 --> 00:48:22,080
of the strategy ideas and then notes at the end 
about any other ideas that they want to see added.  

452
00:48:22,080 --> 00:48:28,640
So we'll collect those group notes um which just 
takes if 50 people attend that's a and they split  

453
00:48:28,640 --> 00:48:33,840
into small groups that's just much fewer packets 
for us to collect and easier to sort through the  

454
00:48:33,840 --> 00:48:40,480
ideas. The second piece is that we'll do the 
rating system. So each individual that joins  

455
00:48:40,480 --> 00:48:46,400
will take an exit poll and rate the strategies 
either a one if they want to remove the strategy,  

456
00:48:46,400 --> 00:48:51,280
they don't like it at all, a two if they think it 
needs a little bit of work, but they could see it  

457
00:48:51,280 --> 00:48:56,960
in the plan, and a three if they think it's 
good as is and they love it. and we'll take  

458
00:48:56,960 --> 00:49:02,720
all of those exit polls and basically average the 
results to come up with an understanding of which  

459
00:49:02,720 --> 00:49:08,400
strategies are really the most supported by the 
public um and the members that were able to come  

460
00:49:08,400 --> 00:49:17,760
to that meeting of what should be in the plan. 
So that's that's our methodology for for that.

461
00:49:17,760 --> 00:49:25,600
And I'll pause there again. Are there any 
questions or comments or ideas about this so far?  

462
00:49:25,600 --> 00:49:34,960
Uh Chris, just wanted to uh note I I I looked 
through the um your working version of the the  

463
00:49:34,960 --> 00:49:41,920
themes and goals and a lot of of good stuff there. 
Wrote some fairly lengthy comments. I'm not sure  

464
00:49:41,920 --> 00:49:48,480
if Tony's passed those along to you yet. But 
yeah, absolutely was I think what you presented  

465
00:49:48,480 --> 00:49:55,520
here great segue into strategies. And that was my 
comments were really all oriented towards strategy  

466
00:49:55,520 --> 00:50:02,720
and what what you have and the um the draft themes 
and goals. I'm really uh encourage that is the  

467
00:50:02,720 --> 00:50:09,840
next step. So I feel like this is really looking 
good. Great. I'm glad to hear that and I hope to  

468
00:50:09,840 --> 00:50:16,160
see you at some of the working sessions. So one 
look forward to attending and I and I said plural  

469
00:50:16,160 --> 00:50:22,720
because I Austin so I have a question. you you 
mentioned on uh you know of the six vision areas  

470
00:50:22,720 --> 00:50:30,720
you're going to approach or somehow you're going 
to approach or identify local experts uh advocates  

471
00:50:30,720 --> 00:50:39,280
etc in each of these areas. Um how are you going 
to do that? Yeah, if I could there's multiple  

472
00:50:39,280 --> 00:50:44,000
ways you can do it but I just want to hear what 
your thoughts are. Yeah, what we like to do is  

473
00:50:44,000 --> 00:50:51,040
get two or three re we call them resource people. 
It's, you know, it can be town staff, it could be  

474
00:50:51,040 --> 00:50:56,320
a border committee member, it's somebody who has 
a particular perspective that would be respected  

475
00:50:56,320 --> 00:51:03,360
in this group. Um, you know, and uh and how we 
would do that is we would work with the committee,  

476
00:51:03,360 --> 00:51:08,080
the advisory committee and town staff to help 
us figure out who those people are, who you want  

477
00:51:08,080 --> 00:51:13,600
to invite, and then uh we obviously have to talk 
with them soon to make sure they're even available  

478
00:51:13,600 --> 00:51:22,480
those days. Yeah. How much notice uh that you just 
your last sentence was the one uh how much notice  

479
00:51:22,480 --> 00:51:27,600
are you looking for on this to identify them? 
Yeah, I mean it would be good at your next meeting  

480
00:51:27,600 --> 00:51:32,320
which I think is the week after next. I don't have 
the date in my head. Um of the committee meeting,  

481
00:51:32,320 --> 00:51:37,600
not the planning board, uh to really start to I 
don't know if you've already talked about it at  

482
00:51:37,600 --> 00:51:43,680
your last meeting, but to start to talk about 
it and finalize that list shortly thereafter.  

483
00:51:44,960 --> 00:51:51,360
Yeah, we we haven't, but obviously there's there's 
relevant committees on each of these areas in  

484
00:51:51,360 --> 00:51:57,920
town. Um Okay. And if um if committee members 
could start thinking about it now and bring their  

485
00:51:57,920 --> 00:52:05,760
ideas to the meeting, that would be that would 
probably be more efficient. Sure. Thank you.  

486
00:52:05,760 --> 00:52:18,640
Um look like press on Austin. Well, I will not 
press much further because that is my final slide.

487
00:52:18,640 --> 00:52:23,920
Well, thank thank you all. Um, thank you for 
letting us go so long. I know we've spent almost  

488
00:52:23,920 --> 00:52:28,240
an hour of your time and I appreciate that. 
Sometimes we get 15 minutes on these agendas,  

489
00:52:28,240 --> 00:52:34,400
so I really do appreciate it. It's it's um it's 
nice to have a a lengthier discussion like this  

490
00:52:34,400 --> 00:52:41,680
and um and we we do hope you'll participate in 
those uh working sessions. Um maybe not all.  

491
00:52:41,680 --> 00:52:45,520
We don't expect people to come to all of them, 
but certainly you're welcome to all of them. I  

492
00:52:45,520 --> 00:52:52,480
know it's a long day, long two days. Um but we do 
encourage it. and then we'll come back and see you  

493
00:52:52,480 --> 00:52:58,160
um at the end towards the end of the 
the phase three and we should have a  

494
00:52:58,160 --> 00:53:03,760
short list at that point that you'll get 
in your packet um so that you can sort of  

495
00:53:03,760 --> 00:53:11,440
see where we landed and give us any additional 
comments before we start laying out the plan.

496
00:53:11,440 --> 00:53:18,880
All right, I I think that's all all we have unless 
you have any questions for us. uh questions both  

497
00:53:18,880 --> 00:53:27,200
members of the board or other people on the call 
other residents of the town of Bedford. Yes,  

498
00:53:27,200 --> 00:53:35,440
Steve. It's fun. One of the things that um that 
I was wondering as I was um listening um I know  

499
00:53:35,440 --> 00:53:43,360
we've we've scheduled you know a Saturday and a 
Sunday um three sessions each of those days um to  

500
00:53:43,360 --> 00:53:52,000
do this. So, is it your vision that, you know, 
if we have sessions at 9, noon, and 3, then in  

501
00:53:52,000 --> 00:53:59,040
each of those sessions, we'd go through sections 
1 through 3, 1 through 3, 1 through 3 on like the  

502
00:53:59,040 --> 00:54:05,200
first day. What how how are you looking at? No, 
sorry that wasn't clear. No, each session is just  

503
00:54:05,200 --> 00:54:12,320
one theme. Okay. So, session one is only theme 
one and session two is theme two. Okay. Thank you.  

504
00:54:12,320 --> 00:54:18,400
You're welcome. Yeah, we're trying to make these 
into as bite-sized chunks as we can, but still  

505
00:54:18,400 --> 00:54:28,560
allow people to have these deep discussions. So, 
clearly we got we need to make it um well known  

506
00:54:28,560 --> 00:54:34,320
to the general public the time of each session 
because obviously there's people that are focused  

507
00:54:34,320 --> 00:54:41,360
on a subject as opposed to all subjects. So, all 
right, good that we got that clear. Thank you.  

508
00:54:42,080 --> 00:54:48,720
Um, if this is everything, then we will thank 
you for your time. Look forward to seeing you  

509
00:54:48,720 --> 00:54:59,280
again shortly. Sounds good. Thank you so much. And 
then I believe we just on the board, our next item  

510
00:54:59,280 --> 00:55:08,960
on the agenda is the um 229 Old Bill Ricker Road 
subject. And the question then being, thank you,  

511
00:55:08,960 --> 00:55:15,920
J uh Jen. Thank you, Austin. Is there someone 
to speak on this subject? John, uh if I may,  

512
00:55:15,920 --> 00:55:24,880
Mr. Chair. Yes, Tony. Just at 7 just before the 
meeting started, conferring with attorney Brown,  

513
00:55:24,880 --> 00:55:36,080
uh they request that 229 be postponed to the 
March 10 meeting. Okay. Is there a motion to John,  

514
00:55:36,080 --> 00:55:42,640
you have something to say? Um I was going to 
suggest that we we let people know that the  

515
00:55:42,640 --> 00:55:49,840
other item in the session was also delayed. So for 
I think I think you need to vote on a continuation  

516
00:55:49,840 --> 00:55:56,800
for the road. Oh, agreed. But we got to so some 
hands up there. So for those in the audience,  

517
00:55:56,800 --> 00:56:05,840
the board has already continued at the request of 
the applicant. The subdivision affecting 145 Davis  

518
00:56:05,840 --> 00:56:15,360
Road and Jeffrey Circle has already been continued 
to March 10. And you and the board is about to  

519
00:56:15,360 --> 00:56:27,120
consider a request to postpone discussion of what 
is or was 229 Old Bill Rucker Road, which is going  

520
00:56:27,120 --> 00:56:37,360
to be reumbered as 6 Michael Bacon Way under the 
approved development plan for those properties.  

521
00:56:37,360 --> 00:56:45,760
Um but given the information that we just received 
tonight from town council uh the applicants  

522
00:56:45,760 --> 00:56:56,400
council and the applicant uh have requested 
to continue. They have seen those respons.

523
00:56:56,400 --> 00:57:04,560
Yeah I just like to know what we have penciled 
in for the agenda on March 10th. I'm starting  

524
00:57:04,560 --> 00:57:08,960
to think that this is going to get pretty full 
if if it's continued to the 10th rather than the  

525
00:57:08,960 --> 00:57:16,080
uh subsequent meeting. Yeah. So, the problem 
for our applicants is the subsequent meeting  

526
00:57:16,080 --> 00:57:29,760
is town meeting. Mhm. So, the planning board 
won't meet is not scheduled to meet until u

527
00:57:29,760 --> 00:57:35,680
I forgot the exact date, but the next meeting 
is April uh the next scheduled meeting is not  

528
00:57:35,680 --> 00:57:46,320
till April 14th. Mhm. Um it is I would 
guess that not everything being continued  

529
00:57:46,320 --> 00:57:55,680
tonight will be ready for discussion on the 
10th. He would agree with Tony. U Todd you  

530
00:57:55,680 --> 00:58:02,880
get your hand up. Yeah. Apologize. I was just 
looking for clarification that um the council  

531
00:58:02,880 --> 00:58:11,120
uh for 229 road has received the comments 
from town council. Uh they have not yet.  

532
00:58:11,120 --> 00:58:16,720
Okay. That uh we I've simply notified 
them that they have those comments.  

533
00:58:16,720 --> 00:58:25,360
Okay. And we'll share them either at the end 
of this meeting or tomorrow. Okay. Thank you.

534
00:58:25,360 --> 00:58:30,800
Okay. So, is there a motion 
to extend consideration of the  

535
00:58:30,800 --> 00:58:39,600
um 229 Old Bill Ricker Road uh request for lease 
of covenant to the March 10, 2026 meeting of the  

536
00:58:39,600 --> 00:58:52,720
Bedford Planning Board or say so moved? So 
moved. Thank you, Todd. Chair, I mean second.

537
00:58:52,720 --> 00:59:06,160
Second. Second. Thank you, John. How do you vote? 
Todd I. John I. Don I. Chris I. And the chair  

538
00:59:06,160 --> 00:59:14,960
votes I. All right. That is uh then officially 
extended. I think continued is a technical term,  

539
00:59:14,960 --> 00:59:23,520
right? Continued. Yeah. I I've not recovered 
from snow shoveling the U. Thank you.  

540
00:59:23,520 --> 00:59:34,000
Um I think that's all of the formal topics 
that were on the agenda and now we can go to um

541
00:59:34,000 --> 00:59:44,640
liaison reports and then staff reports. 
Anybody anything to come up from liaison?

542
00:59:44,640 --> 00:59:51,120
If not we can move on to staff reports.

543
00:59:51,120 --> 01:00:00,000
John, um I did not go to select board meeting two 
weeks ago, but I did go last night. Um they still  

544
01:00:00,000 --> 01:00:07,040
haven't closed the warrant officially, although 
they've they've closed all the wording is still  

545
01:00:07,040 --> 01:00:11,360
uh up in the air, but there aren't 
aren't going to accept any more articles.  

546
01:00:11,360 --> 01:00:18,080
Um there was a long discussion 
about the relationship between  

547
01:00:18,080 --> 01:00:25,600
uh elected boards and stat and and department 
heads and and and the relevant department heads  

548
01:00:25,600 --> 01:00:32,240
which honestly I don't understand where they 
where they ended up. Um and it's still going  

549
01:00:32,240 --> 01:00:42,400
back and forth about um the library versus the 
planning board versus the board of health. Um,  

550
01:00:42,400 --> 01:00:56,400
I trust it will end up in some place useful. 
Um, I don't think there was anything else.

551
01:00:56,400 --> 01:01:03,680
Uh, Chris, while John's thinking, this is a 
question for, uh, Mr. Mlan. Uh, two questions  

552
01:01:03,680 --> 01:01:13,520
actually. Um, if you want to bet on it ending up 
someplace useful, I'm happy to take your money.

553
01:01:13,520 --> 01:01:23,040
The uh the second question, I guess somewhat more 
seriously, although I was serious about that,  

554
01:01:23,040 --> 01:01:28,080
I was on the charter and bylaw review 
committee and we made a recommendation. Um,  

555
01:01:28,080 --> 01:01:34,560
so it wasn't simply an up or down vote on 
whether to adopt the charter and bylaws  

556
01:01:34,560 --> 01:01:41,840
committee recommendation and put that to town 
meeting. There was uh discussion of revising what  

557
01:01:41,840 --> 01:01:48,320
what we recommended. I guess it just would seem to 
me that yeah, we had this committee to recommend  

558
01:01:48,320 --> 01:01:56,720
changes to the the charter and and bylaws. 
time one might see fit to recommend simply  

559
01:01:56,720 --> 01:02:07,520
bringing forward those those recommendations 
for town meeting to consider. So I think

560
01:02:07,520 --> 01:02:13,120
I think there's a couple hang-ups and and and 
and part of this was from the meeting a month  

561
01:02:13,120 --> 01:02:22,960
ago. There was some discomfort about treating the 
library trustees different than planning board and  

562
01:02:22,960 --> 01:02:30,400
um board of health and and and then just 
to make things even more complicated  

563
01:02:30,400 --> 01:02:38,560
um you know it seems like the interpretation of 
our so there's an argument to be made that the  

564
01:02:38,560 --> 01:02:47,200
interpretation of our bylaws the town's bylaws 
has changed over the last five or six years. Um,  

565
01:02:47,200 --> 01:02:53,760
and the board and and and I think the position 
of the library board of trustees is that they  

566
01:02:53,760 --> 01:02:58,800
do not like the new interpretation. And if 
the new interpretation is what's happening,  

567
01:02:58,800 --> 01:03:08,960
they want a bylaw change to um to clarify their 
their authority visa v the library director.  

568
01:03:09,760 --> 01:03:17,200
So, it's it's um I think the 
technical term is a mess.

569
01:03:17,200 --> 01:03:22,000
I think that's a term you can 
use in polite company. Yes,  

570
01:03:22,000 --> 01:03:27,120
I I could use other terms, but but 
yes, this is a a family meeting. So,  

571
01:03:27,120 --> 01:03:41,040
um Well, I'm happy we're polite company. Worried 
sometimes. other uh reports from liaison,

572
01:03:41,040 --> 01:03:48,960
any information from staff? Well, just to just 
to add to John's comments about the select board  

573
01:03:48,960 --> 01:04:01,040
meeting last night, the the proposed bylaw changes 
do include um the changes that I announced in the  

574
01:04:01,040 --> 01:04:08,400
meeting preview about adding unregistered 
and uninspected and non-operable vehicles.  

575
01:04:08,400 --> 01:04:16,480
So among the by among the general bylaw changes 
in that that is absorbed into the larger article  

576
01:04:16,480 --> 01:04:26,240
to amend the the the general bylaw. It's not a not 
going to be a standalone article for the purposes  

577
01:04:26,240 --> 01:04:34,000
of the general bylaw. It will be a standalone 
article for the zoning part. uh it was announced  

578
01:04:34,000 --> 01:04:40,880
uh by the town manager and it it didn't seem to 
get any didn't really seem to get any reaction. So  

579
01:04:40,880 --> 01:04:55,440
um so I guess it's it's just it's can be included 
and um the um but and then to just I think also  

580
01:04:55,440 --> 01:05:01,040
just specific to Kurt's question about the 
recommendation of the charter and bylaw review  

581
01:05:01,040 --> 01:05:06,800
committee where there was compromised language 
that the planning board and board of health kind  

582
01:05:06,800 --> 01:05:15,680
of accepted where you know policy you know, policy 
direction from the elected board still applies  

583
01:05:15,680 --> 01:05:25,120
to my position and to the director of health. But 
the uh there are concerns still among the library  

584
01:05:25,120 --> 01:05:34,160
trustees and the library trustees had suggested an 
amendment to the to whatever compromised language  

585
01:05:34,160 --> 01:05:40,960
and that seemed to go in a lot of seemed to have a 
lot of circles last night. So that issue I assume  

586
01:05:40,960 --> 01:05:46,800
will get further discussion at their next 
meeting. Um other I'm not sure if there are  

587
01:05:46,800 --> 01:05:56,160
other elements of the bylaw recommendations that 
are getting um anywhere near that much scrutiny.  

588
01:05:56,160 --> 01:06:03,920
Uh otherwise the the um I think the draft warrants 
now with like 32 articles. Um, thank you to member  

589
01:06:03,920 --> 01:06:09,840
Crowley for offering to step up and present 
uh the cottage overlay district which will be  

590
01:06:09,840 --> 01:06:20,880
on your next agenda as a public hearing item. 
Uh, we will also need somebody to speak on the  

591
01:06:20,880 --> 01:06:31,040
addition to unregistered vehicles being modified 
to include uninspected or nonoperable vehicles.  

592
01:06:32,320 --> 01:06:40,160
Is that one not being proposed by the select 
board? Oh, but it is. Oh, that's true. Uh, yeah,  

593
01:06:40,160 --> 01:06:43,840
I'll have to work. But well, somebody's still 
going to have to give whatever the planning  

594
01:06:43,840 --> 01:06:49,920
board recommendation is. But Mhm. um yeah, we'll 
have to work out with the town manager whether  

595
01:06:49,920 --> 01:06:59,840
the presentation is actually going to be done by 
the select board or by well I guess the only other  

596
01:06:59,840 --> 01:07:09,600
person would be the town manager, but so we'll 
have to start looking at that because it is it's

597
01:07:12,880 --> 01:07:21,200
It's an interesting dynamic. Um,

598
01:07:21,200 --> 01:07:29,840
yeah. Otherwise, um, we are continuing 
to have discussions with, uh, Cummings  

599
01:07:29,840 --> 01:07:36,720
Properties over the future of the two office 
buildings at 174 and 176 Middle Sex Turnpike.  

600
01:07:37,280 --> 01:07:43,200
Uh we are going to have a construction 
coordination meeting with Brian Develis in  

601
01:07:43,200 --> 01:07:52,640
a month or well within a month about the start of 
construction of the multi- well the mixed housing  

602
01:07:52,640 --> 01:07:58,160
project that was the 40B on Carile Road. It's 
not your jurisdiction, but we're sticking our  

603
01:07:58,160 --> 01:08:09,360
fingers in to make sure it gets built in 
accordance with the decision. And then um

604
01:08:09,360 --> 01:08:16,240
um other um we're hopeful that other projects 
that have been sitting on the back burner may  

605
01:08:16,240 --> 01:08:22,960
also finally get up and running this year as um 
interest rates have finally maybe at least leveled  

606
01:08:22,960 --> 01:08:32,480
off and people are re calibrating the finances to 
get some of these other approved projects built.

607
01:08:40,560 --> 01:08:48,160
I think that's all we have. Yeah. Yeah. To 
that end, the U part of the presentation we  

608
01:08:48,160 --> 01:08:56,960
saw tonight was another town downtown area over 
on Lim Street, but there's the development at  

609
01:08:56,960 --> 01:09:04,080
Railroad Avenue Junction there that is is still on 
hold, it seems, unless you've heard that they've  

610
01:09:04,080 --> 01:09:10,160
uh improved their financing and construction. 
Yeah. So, the mixeduse project at one railroad  

611
01:09:10,160 --> 01:09:19,360
avenue was actually um on the select board consent 
agenda last night to accept the revised easements  

612
01:09:19,360 --> 01:09:26,080
related to the parking and sidewalk where right 
we're trading some on street parking in order for  

613
01:09:26,080 --> 01:09:33,200
the public sidewalk to be on the private property 
and for that project to um get off the ground.  

614
01:09:33,200 --> 01:09:45,440
And so they are anticipating breaking ground this 
spring. They've been working with Eversource on um

615
01:09:45,440 --> 01:09:50,080
applying the pro whatever protective things 
they're going to do on the wires because some  

616
01:09:50,080 --> 01:09:57,680
of you may recall that building is tight to right 
some locations the second and and and top story  

617
01:09:57,680 --> 01:10:06,880
are a little tight to the wire. So that requires 
some carefully planned construction methodology.  

618
01:10:06,880 --> 01:10:14,240
Um that's being that's been worked out. U say the 
revised easements related to the parking. Well,  

619
01:10:14,240 --> 01:10:21,200
um yeah. So, in the on street parking, uh there's 
also been a discussion with the fire department  

620
01:10:21,200 --> 01:10:31,840
about um reducing the on street parking just a 
bit so that they will have fire um we're creating  

621
01:10:31,840 --> 01:10:40,000
basically a fire access lane. I don't somewhere 
to actually park uh a fire engine should there  

622
01:10:40,000 --> 01:10:48,480
be an event at that location. Um so so the the 
preconstruction discussions have been ongoing.  

623
01:10:48,480 --> 01:10:57,440
Uh the building permit uh applications are live 
and under active review by various departments. So  

624
01:10:57,440 --> 01:11:03,360
um they think they've got um they think they've 
got the funding worked out. They think they've got  

625
01:11:03,360 --> 01:11:09,680
all the you know they've been working on the on a 
variety of contracts. They've been they brought in  

626
01:11:09,680 --> 01:11:17,120
a housing consultant to deal with the u two of the 
units have to be affordable units. So they've been  

627
01:11:17,120 --> 01:11:24,320
going through the paces of getting the affordable 
units and the paperwork involved with that all  

628
01:11:24,320 --> 01:11:34,000
queued up. So um so it looks kind of promising 
that that might actually get up and underway.

629
01:11:34,000 --> 01:11:42,560
Thank you. That's encouraging. other 
subjects from anyone on the call.

630
01:11:42,560 --> 01:11:49,920
Todd? Yeah, three things now. Um, again, the 
priest bill can put their name in the hat,  

631
01:11:49,920 --> 01:11:58,880
but I would be willing to present um the zoning 
change for the vehicles on a lot if needed. Um,  

632
01:11:58,880 --> 01:12:04,880
number one. Number two, uh I do have I made at 
least the first draft of the slide deck for the  

633
01:12:04,880 --> 01:12:12,560
um cottage overlay district. I have a few 
questions for the the planning board in terms of  

634
01:12:12,560 --> 01:12:23,520
um and and staff um in terms of one um how much 
of the initial proposal that was shown in front  

635
01:12:23,520 --> 01:12:33,040
of us should be shown to the public at all. I I I 
don't know. I I put it in there as a first draft,  

636
01:12:33,040 --> 01:12:38,000
but I wanted to get the planning board's thoughts 
cuz I know it may not be what gets built,  

637
01:12:38,000 --> 01:12:43,680
but that's what was shown because it kind of 
shows the 1800 square feet and so forth. Um,  

638
01:12:43,680 --> 01:12:48,240
but I didn't know what was appropriate.

639
01:12:48,240 --> 01:12:59,760
I I'd recommend being cautious about showing 
project because that's not what being photo

640
01:12:59,760 --> 01:13:05,040
but okay. Um but do you think I 
shouldn't even show any pictures  

641
01:13:05,040 --> 01:13:10,160
but I my words can really convey 
how this is a proposal. I don't  

642
01:13:10,160 --> 01:13:20,160
know potential you know initial proposal 
not necessarily what would be built but

643
01:13:20,160 --> 01:13:36,800
Chris I think are really good they can convin

644
01:13:36,800 --> 01:13:44,720
sorry distracting Um there's uh maybe it's not 
appropriate it's probably not appropriate to  

645
01:13:44,720 --> 01:13:52,080
choose areas of town um or sketches of of projects 
that are envisioned for town which they may or may  

646
01:13:52,080 --> 01:14:03,680
not uh proceed. But if you could find examples 
of 10 units per acre and you 1800ish square foot  

647
01:14:03,680 --> 01:14:12,000
15- 1800 square foot homes in other locations. 
you know, be it Arlington or, you know, Actton,  

648
01:14:12,000 --> 01:14:22,960
um, so that folks have an idea of what they would 
be endorsing. I think that would be a good idea.  

649
01:14:22,960 --> 01:14:30,160
I'll see what I can find. Yeah, I know it's easy 
to say, but where do we pick up pictures like  

650
01:14:30,160 --> 01:14:39,760
that? Um, and all right, thank you. Um, yeah, I 
am inclined to to put some in, but uh maybe keep  

651
01:14:39,760 --> 01:14:45,280
some of the details not there. Um, one thing I 
have to say that I'm a little frustrated with,  

652
01:14:45,280 --> 01:14:52,560
but it seems like every time I give the slide deck 
to I forget the nice gentleman. Um, but he never  

653
01:14:52,560 --> 01:14:58,560
puts the uh like uh backup slides in, so I can't 
rely on having those because I don't think they  

654
01:14:58,560 --> 01:15:04,080
get put in. Um, which I understand because 
it's a whole one slide deck for everything.  

655
01:15:04,080 --> 01:15:10,720
Um, but I I wish that could be different. Um, also 
just the second question, I my first initial pass  

656
01:15:10,720 --> 01:15:15,600
I actually don't have anything about 40y in 
there explicitly. Again, that's something I  

657
01:15:15,600 --> 01:15:19,840
probably put in in the backup slides, but seems 
like wouldn't be there. But, um, but I'll have in  

658
01:15:19,840 --> 01:15:25,680
the back of my mind somewhere written down so that 
if there's questions, if somebody is aware of it,  

659
01:15:25,680 --> 01:15:31,120
at least it can be discussed. Um, but I wasn't 
going to put anything in there. Um, and then  

660
01:15:31,120 --> 01:15:38,480
lastly, yeah. Yeah, sorry. My my third thing was 
uh something I'd like the planning board to think  

661
01:15:38,480 --> 01:15:45,920
about, not for this town meeting. Um that that is 
I just learned recently within the past month that  

662
01:15:45,920 --> 01:15:52,000
um we are not required to uh keep our sidewalks 
clean uh especially in the winter with snow. Uh I  

663
01:15:52,000 --> 01:15:55,920
actually thought that was a requirement. I don't 
believe it is unless somebody says differently,  

664
01:15:55,920 --> 01:16:02,400
but that's what I was told um by the DPW. um like 
to think about potentially is that a good idea for  

665
01:16:02,400 --> 01:16:08,320
us to propose to into the bylaws in the future and 
or is there anything we can do as a community to  

666
01:16:08,320 --> 01:16:14,720
help more help um the town clear sidewalks? Uh 
as I'm pretty frustrated with how things have  

667
01:16:14,720 --> 01:16:21,040
gone the past few storms, especially near the 
schools. Um and I and I wasn't happy that today  

668
01:16:21,040 --> 01:16:25,520
had to be cancelled. That that bums me out. 
I wish that we could do more to help the town  

669
01:16:25,520 --> 01:16:30,960
um as a organization, community, something 
volunteers to help out. I'm more than willing  

670
01:16:30,960 --> 01:16:35,600
to do miles if I need to um with my snowblower. 
So, just something to think about in the future.  

671
01:16:35,600 --> 01:16:44,000
Um like to put something more official 
on the agenda. Thanks. And to that end,  

672
01:16:44,000 --> 01:16:50,160
could you make sure that gets folded into the um 
this long-term plan that we're supposedly working  

673
01:16:50,160 --> 01:16:57,200
on cuz that's that's end that topic of getting 
around town. If the sidewalks aren't plowed or,  

674
01:16:57,200 --> 01:17:03,840
you know, then you know that's a problem. So yes, 
we should cover it, but also there's a place that  

675
01:17:03,840 --> 01:17:10,880
should be documented. John. Yeah. So, I actually 
looked into this question, I think last year. The  

676
01:17:10,880 --> 01:17:17,600
state requires that sidewalks be cleared, but it 
allows it to be delegated to the residents. Um,  

677
01:17:17,600 --> 01:17:25,680
and Bedford has chosen not to do that. Um, I will 
not uh go on in in this particular form of whether  

678
01:17:25,680 --> 01:17:31,760
I think that's that's right or wrong because that 
might I don't know might be a discussion. But  

679
01:17:31,760 --> 01:17:41,920
uh but uh my my understanding is is that the 
town has taken responsibility for it. Whether  

680
01:17:41,920 --> 01:17:48,880
they need to do better whether we need to do 
better job is perhaps a different question. But

681
01:17:48,880 --> 01:17:55,520
thank you. Other subjects from anyone?

682
01:17:55,520 --> 01:18:04,880
Is anybody uh is anyone else tired from uh the 
latest snow days and wants to adjourn early? You  

683
01:18:04,880 --> 01:18:14,800
could just say move to adjourn. Move to adjurnn. 
Second. Roll call vote. How do you vote? Todd I.  

684
01:18:14,800 --> 01:18:26,320
Don I. Chris I. John. just to go along. I Yeah. 
And the chair go votes I also. I'm looking forward  

685
01:18:26,320 --> 01:18:33,200
to see everybody next March our next March 
meeting which uh may be a long prep of town  

686
01:18:33,200 --> 01:18:45,760
meeting etc etc. Thank you all for your community 
service. See you soon. Thanks. Night. Good night.