[3:15] My phone now says it's 7:00 and 
therefore I will call this meeting  
[3:22] of the Bedford Planning Board to order 
and uh February 24th, 2026. Six. First,  
[3:30] I must begin by reading the statements 
from the governor and government.
[3:38] Pursuant to legislation S 2475 extending the 
suspension on certain provisions of the open  
[3:44] meeting all GL38 paragraph 20, this meeting of 
the Bedford Planning Board will be conducted via  
[3:49] remote participation to the greatest extent 
possible. No in one person uh attendance of  
[3:58] members of the public will be permitted but every 
effort will be made to ensure that the public can  
[4:03] adequately access the proceedings in real time 
via technological means. In the event that we're  
[4:09] unable to do so despite best efforts, we will post 
on the town's website an audio or video recording  
[4:15] transcript or other comprehensive repres represent 
record of proceedings as soon as possible after  
[4:22] the meeting. Thank you one and all for listening 
to that and it's also notifying to all attendees  
[4:30] that the meeting is being recorded and which we 
much appreciated and we are now at full strength  
[4:37] and I believe the um first topic on the agenda 
is a comprehensive plan update and it might be  
[4:45] Jennifer Goldson here to speak on this. Am I 
correct? Yes. Hi Steve. Thank you so much. Jen  
[4:51] Goldson here. Um Austin and I have a Oh, can you 
hear me? We can hear you and thank you. Yes, thank  
[5:00] you. Did you want me to take over? Yeah, go ahead. 
Can I also just interject, Mr. Chair, u that we  
[5:06] have a handful of people in the audience who are 
interested in the subdivision application, which  
[5:13] late this afternoon was requested to be continued 
without testimony. And so for I just thought we  
[5:21] might save Oh, is this the 145 Davis Road? Yeah, 
145 Davis Road is not going to be heard this  
[5:28] evening. And um I didn't I didn't get through to 
all the abutters I was aware of and I do see at  
[5:36] least two in the audience. Okay, that now do we 
do we need to move to continue this to a future  
[5:44] meeting? Well, one option would be to take it out 
of order and continue it to a future meeting. Let  
[5:51] let's let's do that. Then we we can have that and 
then my memory won't be taxed any longer. Is there  
[5:58] a motion to uh continue the meeting the hearing 
for 145 Davis Road, Jeffrey Circle, subdivision  
[6:07] plan to the next meeting. So move. Second. Second. 
Okay. Thank you. Roll call vote. Todd Hi, Don. Hi,  
[6:19] Chris. Just point of clarification that is March 
10th. Yes. I I just said a future meeting because  
[6:26] we we need them to speak. Well, it needs you 
need if you don't continue to a date certain,  
[6:33] we'll have to readvertise it. So, okay. For the 
time being, I would just ask you continue it to  
[6:38] March 10th. March 10th. Wonderful date. I like 
that one. And how do you vote? John I. Chris I.  
[6:48] And the chair votes I. All right. Now we are going 
to go back to um Jennifer and Austin. Whomever of  
[6:59] you would like to speak first. We are all ears. 
Thank you. Appreciate it. Yeah, we're happy to be  
[7:05] here. I'm Jen Goldson. I'm the owner and founding 
founding uh uh person founder of Jam Goldson,  
[7:13] my firm that I created about 20 years ago. We've 
been doing uh comprehensive plans like this uh  
[7:18] as well as community engagement, housing plans, 
housing trust, and uh and we've met some of you,  
[7:24] but not all of you. So, what we what we thought 
we'd do is do a presentation just giving a status  
[7:29] report of what has been happening. There's a lot 
that's been happening. I bet you've been involved  
[7:34] with some of it. I know that um that some of your 
members on the committee uh have been very very um  
[7:41] instrumental in having some extremely successful 
engagement over the past several several months  
[7:48] and uh we're going to present a little bit about 
what we've learned and where we are in the process  
[7:53] and then what's coming up next. There's some 
important uh things coming up including working  
[7:57] sessions in April that we hope you all can 
go to and we'll tell you more about that as  
[8:02] we get into it. So Austin, I think you should be 
able to share your screen as a panelist, right?
[8:11] And uh you can just go to the the next slide. 
So our team is a little bigger than who you see  
[8:17] here. Austin is our project manager and he really 
keeps everything going on a day-to-day basis. He's  
[8:23] very organized and uh and he's been your main 
point of contact. I'm the project director. Um,  
[8:30] and then we have a couple people that are 
working more behind the scenes. Lucy Corlet  
[8:35] is one of our project assistants and Flavio Vila 
um is also a project assistant and they've done  
[8:41] um quite a bit of mapping and analysis and and 
and doing things behind the scenes. Uh you may  
[8:47] see them from time to time, but mostly you'll see 
me and Austin. Next slide. So first I just want to  
[8:54] say that this has been an extremely collaborative 
effort and that's the kind of project that we  
[8:58] that we enjoy and actually seek out and uh 
the planning department the comprehensive  
[9:04] plan advisory committee and just the community 
has had a a lot of energy towards engaging in  
[9:08] this so far. So we wanted to just upfront just 
thank everyone for for the momentum um so far.
[9:18] Uh so the the comprehensive plan is 
I'm sure I'm sure a lot of this may  
[9:23] be review. Um there may also be people 
watching who it's the first time they've  
[9:27] heard of a comprehensive plan. So we wanted to 
go through a little bit of the basics before  
[9:31] we get into the meat of what's been 
going on. But a comprehensive plan is  
[9:35] uh really a roadmap for the next decade for 
Bedford. Uh it helps you to align decisions  
[9:43] um anticipate change and then connect investments 
to community priorities. It's a it's really meant  
[9:49] to be a big push to get community engagement so 
that decision makers like yourselves and other  
[9:55] boards and committees in the in the community 
can really understand where the community wants  
[10:00] to see the town going and what's realistic 
um as well for for the town. What kind of  
[10:06] uh implementation capacity do you have? Where can 
you get funding? All of those things will be part  
[10:11] of really the next phase when we think about 
strategies. But what we've been doing so far is  
[10:16] trying to understand what are the things that uh 
community members really value about Bedford and  
[10:22] where what are they looking to improve upon, where 
do they want to go in the future. Next next slide.
[10:33] So we we believe in deep public engagement and 
I think that's one of the reasons why Bedford  
[10:39] hired us. Um, we have a very strong track record 
of of engaging communities in in this discussion.  
[10:46] We think this is probably the most important 
discussion these community members will have  
[10:51] in the next decade um just about the future of 
the town. And so we we do everything we can to  
[10:56] get the word out and uh and that includes um 
uh well we'll talk more about the the different  
[11:03] kinds of engagement we've done, but essentially 
our our goal is to have both both deep and broad  
[11:09] conversations. So we say deep public engagement 
here but it's also broad public engagement. Some  
[11:14] people won't be able to contribute in a deep way 
and that's okay. Um but we want everyone to have  
[11:20] the opportunity to participate at the level that 
they can. So we have some shorter ways people can  
[11:25] engage and we have some deeper ways people can 
engage. Raise your hand if you were part of a I  
[11:30] know a couple of you were but if you were part of 
a meeting in a box that happened. Yeah. Yeah. So  
[11:35] that was that's an example of a deeper way that 
you can engage. you can really have a in-depth  
[11:41] conversation for a couple of hours. Um, shorter 
ways are uh, you know, stopping by a pop-up table  
[11:49] and uh, participating in an activity or um, or 
even the survey could be considered a shorter way.  
[11:55] It's not it's not short short, but it's not as 
long as a meeting in a box. Um, or even something  
[12:00] that we did online that we call the crowd map, 
but it's basically an interactive map online. So,  
[12:06] that's kind of a quicker way. you know, you could 
spend a long time on it or you could pop in and  
[12:10] say, "I want to see improvements here and I want 
to preserve this." Um, our plans are also data  
[12:15] informed and uh and we'll go through everything 
we've done to date, including the existing  
[12:21] conditions summary, which Austin will present to 
you uh in more detail. And then uh really grounded  
[12:29] once we get to the strategy stage u grounded in in 
in actionable strategies that are aligned. So you  
[12:35] can have actionable strategies, but if they're 
not aligned with what the community is looking  
[12:39] for and what's realistic for the community, what 
kind of regional things are going on, uh what kind  
[12:44] of resources are out there. So being both aligned 
and actionable are really important. Uh all right,  
[12:50] next slide. So we are kind of straddling. We're 
sort of at the end of phase two, starting to  
[12:58] enter into phase three. In the first phase, we we 
really worked um to try to understand Bedford and  
[13:07] we put together uh an analysis that's backed up by 
Excel spreadsheets um that are very detailed and  
[13:15] we put it into a summary format that um that the 
department the planning department has reviewed  
[13:22] and I know the planning department also sent that 
out to department managers back in late August,  
[13:28] early September. to also review um the committee 
has also um uh reviewed this and uh and I want  
[13:39] to just say that tonight we'll present some of the 
key findings but but Austin's really going to just  
[13:45] touch the surface of it because there actually 
is a very robust analysis around the you know  
[13:50] we didn't want to spend an hour talking to you 
about it or two hours so we're just hitting the  
[13:54] highlights so if you do have other questions or 
or want to dive in deeper just let us now and I  
[13:59] think you got that um deliverable in your packet. 
So you should be able to uh see the whole thing as  
[14:05] well. All right. And then starting really in 
October, we really kicked off this phase two  
[14:12] which is really getting out into the community 
and trying to understand what are the issues you  
[14:17] see today and and what is the future that you hope 
for um that this plan will help you address. and  
[14:23] we spent several months starting in October uh and 
really starting to wind down now around trying to  
[14:29] understand that. And so tonight, Austin's going to 
also talk through what we learned from that. He's  
[14:34] going to go through the different tools that were 
out there, some of the things that that people  
[14:38] told us, and then uh and then hit the highlights 
of um of what themes came out of that. And then  
[14:45] we're about to enter into this phase three. This 
is where people, you know, a lot of committee  
[14:49] members that I work with are itching to get to 
this point um where we're really talking about  
[14:54] strategies, we're talking about zoning, we're 
talking about local initiatives, talking about  
[14:58] staffing, resources, etc. for the next decade. 
So, that's what we're just about to dive into.  
[15:03] And that phase will really go through until into 
the summer, into the middle of the summer. um we  
[15:10] don't like to shortch change that or the visioning 
or really any of these phases but but we like to  
[15:16] really come up with um a plan that has a lot of 
ownership. So we think that the engagement at each  
[15:22] phase is very important including this strategy 
phase and then at the end we'll basically wrap up  
[15:29] lay lay it all out. By then the decisions will 
have been made um by the time you get into phase  
[15:34] four and we're basically making it pretty by then. 
Uh we're we're kind of uh pulling in photographs,  
[15:41] laying it out, working with our graphic designer, 
making sure that you think the way it it is laid  
[15:47] out and looks and the photos that we're using 
is speaking to the community in the way you  
[15:52] want to convey the messages. Um and then we also 
talk about implementation and how Bedford wants  
[15:58] to go about implementing what kind of oversight 
etc. That all happens in phase four. All right.  
[16:05] So you can see also at the bottom um we have a 
little graphic that just shows how the phases  
[16:10] are really overlapped. There's not really a clean 
break like we're we're done and we're moving on.  
[16:15] Um they're all a bit overlap. All right, next 
slide. All right. So, I'm going to hand this off  
[16:21] to Austin who will walk you through that existing 
conditions summary profile and I'm sure he's happy  
[16:27] to answer questions and then uh and then we'll 
touch on excuse me engagement vision themes and  
[16:33] then we'll wrap up with next steps. All right, 
Austin. Hello everyone. Thank you so much for  
[16:39] having us here tonight. Um, I'm just going to 
touch on some highlights like Jen said because  
[16:44] um, the existing conditions summary is a summary 
of about 65 pages or so. So to touch on all 65  
[16:52] pages would definitely take more than two hours. 
So I'm just going to touch on a few highlights  
[16:56] um, per per the kind of elements of planning that 
we're coming to this comprehensive plan with that  
[17:02] have been really instrumental and valuable kind 
of findings that we've taken into the project. But  
[17:09] first, I want to talk about our purpose and our 
approach. So, the study of existing conditions is  
[17:15] something that's required in comprehensive plans 
per Massachusetts general laws. And traditionally,  
[17:20] they're very lengthy, very technical documents. 
Um, kind of a process document that can sometimes  
[17:26] get lost or get forgotten or not even get fully 
brought forward. So we want to make sure that all  
[17:32] the work that we're doing for the town establishes 
a really strong foundation for the community to be  
[17:38] planning for the next 10 years of really useful 
information that's relevant directly to the  
[17:44] project to the next stages of the project and to 
the next 10 years. So the elements as part of that  
[17:50] planning study include land use, housing, economic 
development, natural and cultural resources, open  
[17:57] space and recreation, services and facilities, 
and circulation and transportation. So, we really  
[18:02] wanted to make sure that going through all of 
that kind of breadth of information, we're right  
[18:08] sizing our research approach to the planning task 
that's at hand because there's a lot of different  
[18:13] technical studies. Um, like we conducted Bedford's 
housing study several years ago, and that's a more  
[18:19] in-depth way of diving into one of these details, 
but we wanted to make sure the study we were doing  
[18:24] was the right kind of tool for the job for this 
comprehensive planning project. So, we found out  
[18:30] that Bedford is growing, diversifying, and aging. 
Growing to about just over 14,000 residents in  
[18:37] 2020 as of the 2020 census, diversifying with more 
than one in four residents now identifying as a  
[18:43] race other than white, and aging with 20% more 
residents over the age of 65 since the year 2010.  
[18:51] Population projections vary significantly though 
depending on the methodology that's used. Um,  
[18:56] and this is something that we're seeing that's 
pretty common throughout municipalities in the  
[19:00] region. It really depends on the local 
land use regulations, migration patterns,  
[19:06] um, both in the region and internationally. That's 
something I know that's kind of shifting quite a  
[19:12] bit past few years. Austin, could you hold a 
second? Um, do you want people to ask questions  
[19:19] uh, while you're like right now Chris has his 
hand up. You know, I wonder if it I wonder  
[19:26] Austin if it would be better to get through the 
answers might might become apparent and sort of  
[19:31] take them at the end. That's what what that's 
what my advice would be. Okay. Thank you Chris.
[19:39] Okay. Thank you. So the the key factors kind of 
in in what the population projections could turn  
[19:47] out to be vary significantly. Um, so it it could 
be one of very two very different answers. Um,  
[19:54] but it will depend on how the next few years 
shake out and how Bedford kind of aims to meet  
[20:00] the the challenges and opportunities that it's 
facing. And when we studied housing in Bedford,  
[20:06] we found that there's a mismatch between the 
households and the homes available for them.  
[20:11] There's a lot more large homes than there are 
large households. And part of this is just because  
[20:16] of the fact that homes were built at one point 
and households change on a faster basis than the  
[20:23] homes themselves do. So for example, I know Jen's 
household recently got smaller because both of her  
[20:29] kids went away to college. So her household shrank 
significantly and now she has extra bedrooms  
[20:35] um that she's not really using. My household 
also got smaller cuz I'm now living in a studio  
[20:40] by myself. So now I'm a oneperson household. Um, 
so examples like that are kind of show how quickly  
[20:46] the population's needs can change in terms of 
housing, but when a building lasts 100 years,  
[20:51] it can be slow for them to keep up. So, there's 
been a long-term trend toward smaller and smaller  
[20:56] household sizes. This is not just in Bedford, but 
it's true in in the region and also the nation.  
[21:02] And that means there's often a mismatch between 
what people need and what the household needs  
[21:07] are and the the available homes. And this means 
that even if Bedford's population doesn't grow in  
[21:13] terms of total number of people, there could be a 
need for housing production even just for smaller,  
[21:19] more accessible homes for an aging population 
or for people that are living alone or living  
[21:25] as a couple longer um longer in their lives. 
And we also looked at housing cost burden. And  
[21:33] so what we mean in the field when we're talking 
about cost burden is that your housing costs are  
[21:38] really high for your income. If you're a renter, 
that means your rent, your renters's insurance,  
[21:42] your utilities. If you're a homeowner, that means 
property taxes, mortgage, mortgage insurance,  
[21:47] etc. And if you're costbururdened, it means 
you're spending more than 30% of your income  
[21:53] on housing costs. If you're extremely 
costburdened, you're spending more than  
[21:58] 50% of your income on those housing costs. And so 
in Bedford, what we found was that there are cost  
[22:06] burdens that extend not just to extremely low 
or very lowincome individuals and households,  
[22:12] but also to moderate income households. So there's 
a need need for more deeply affordable homes to  
[22:18] be certain, but still a need to home for homes 
that are affordable at 80% and even at 100% AMI.  
[22:26] And the AMI when we talk about that in the field 
as well is that kind of middle income level in  
[22:31] the region used to determine eligibility for 
affordable housing programs. Many are at 80%  
[22:37] AMI like those in chapter 40B. Um the community 
preservation act sets it at 100% AMI. Currently  
[22:44] the AMI for a family of four is 160,900. Um for 
a single person household to be qualified in  
[22:51] low income. That's up to 80% AMI. Here is 
a $92,650 income for a single person. So,  
[23:00] they qualify for subsidized housing under 40b. And 
you can see that just nearly a half of Bedford's  
[23:08] households that are in that range are spending 
either more than 30% or more than 50% of their  
[23:15] income on housing costs. and it's twothirds 
of households basically in the very low income  
[23:21] and extremely low income categories. So that 
kind of points to some significant challenges  
[23:27] with housing cost and the amount that people are 
having to pay to maintain their home in Bedford.
[23:36] We also looked at Bedford's local economy 
and we really learned that Bedford is a very  
[23:40] specialized and evolving employment hub. And 
when I said employment hub, I mean that more  
[23:45] people commute into Bedford than out during the 
day. This really reinforces Bedford's status as  
[23:53] uh a home of biotech companies and of industrial 
areas. Lots of people come into town to work every  
[23:59] day in those higher wage specialized sectors. 
And there's also opportunity there, not just  
[24:04] um the strength that Bedford has for the evolution 
of those sectors. um as spaces become vacant  
[24:10] or the economy changes um less toward biotech 
and more toward AI and other things like that,  
[24:17] the evolution of those sectors can give Bedford 
some opportunities for advanced manufacturing,  
[24:21] biotech, and defense R&D. And the live and work 
and hybrid employment environment also changes up  
[24:27] um Bedford's local economy as well. Some 
underutilized older office or commercial buildings  
[24:33] can see reuse and new uses. And more all day 
commerce because folks are maybe working hybrid  
[24:39] or having a flexible work schedule can lead to 
more revitalization of commercial corridors like  
[24:45] the great road. If there's more folks available 
at more times a day to get their laundry done,  
[24:50] to go to the cleaners, to go to a coffee 
shop, etc. When we looked at transportation,  
[24:56] we also found that the congestion patterns in 
Bedford are evolving. And this is both true  
[25:01] um in the traffic patterns as well as anecdotally 
partly because of remote and hybrid work. The peak  
[25:06] traffic patterns are more spread throughout 
the day now. Um so you're seeing more all day  
[25:11] congestion throughout town. There's also limited 
transit options in Bedford and low use of transit.  
[25:17] Um less than 1% of Bedford residents use transit 
to get to work. It could be that more residents  
[25:23] are using it for nonwork trips. Um but the g the 
options that are given are not um as conducive  
[25:29] to Bedford residents forgetting to work as they 
stand. There's also safety concerns at key areas  
[25:35] um with over a thousand crashes in since 2020. The 
pedestrian bicycle plan implementation has been  
[25:41] aligned with other ongoing projects like the great 
road master plan and to the extent possible the  
[25:46] um new traffic calming policy that's being 
rolled out. Um, so there's some alignment  
[25:52] there in terms of increasing safety. We 
also found that Bedford has a very active  
[25:58] community culture with lots of local event 
programming, a Bedford cultural district,  
[26:02] a local historic district that regulates exterior 
changes to the buildings in downtown Bedford,  
[26:08] and a significant number of documented historic 
resources. um though most of them are after the  
[26:13] year 1700 and scattered in a few specific places 
in town along corridors um and in specific areas.
[26:23] We also know that Bedford has a really valued 
areas of green space and recreation access.  
[26:29] There's abundant outdoor and indoor 
recreation facilities partly because  
[26:33] um Bedford was an early adopter of the Community 
Preservation Act at the 3% search charge level.  
[26:38] So that has given the town dedicated regular 
funding and access to those state distributions  
[26:43] to to get bonus money to dedicate to open space 
to historic preservation and community housing as  
[26:50] well. The green network covers nearly a third 
of the town um third of the town's area with  
[26:55] a federal wildlife refuge areas, town forests, 
neighborhood parks, centralized athletic fields,  
[27:01] and rail trail connections. 70% of the open 
space in town is permanently protected. And  
[27:06] most of that protection comes from the federal 
ownership in the wildlife refuge. Bedford  
[27:12] also has a reputation as a well-run local 
government known for outstanding schools,  
[27:16] prudent fiscal management, and robust public 
services. We found that some older facilities  
[27:22] may need some accessibility and adaptation 
upgrades in coming years, and succession  
[27:26] planning and workforce development are ongoing 
needs as they are for many small town governments.  
[27:33] So moving forward the key kind of points that we 
found to summarize that that 65page document that  
[27:40] itself was a summary of a lot of analysis that 
we had done on the back end is that Bedford's  
[27:46] not static. The community is evolving and ready 
to meet the changing circumstances. So we have  
[27:52] the kind of final edits incorporated from the 
planning department comments that we received a  
[27:56] few weeks ago and we're ready to post the latest 
draft on the project website for the public.  
[28:03] So, I'll pause here and take any comments or 
questions you have on this piece before I continue  
[28:09] on to the vision, themes, and goals. Okay, 
Chris, you have the floor. Thank you. Yeah. Uh,  
[28:16] first off, excuse me, great presentation. Uh, 
thank you so much for this. Will the the slides  
[28:23] be available? Sorry, I think I coughed exactly 
at the time of your the important part of your  
[28:29] question. Please will the slides be available? 
Absolutely. Absolutely. And second question,  
[28:37] if you go back to the population predictions, 
yes, and this is getting a bit into the weeds,
[28:45] but the the two projections which diverge 
dramatically after 2020, I'm Yeah. Did either of  
[28:54] those models attempt to go back to 1990 and then 
forward predict to 2020 to see how they did with  
[29:00] respect to reality? That is a great question. Um 
I I don't have that number off the top of my head,  
[29:06] but I know that um MAPC has been doing these 
projections for several decades now. Um so I can  
[29:13] I can go back through and have a double check of 
how close they were to reality. Yeah, I'm I'm very  
[29:20] curious, you know, how they they look, you know, 
five 10 years out if they have have projections  
[29:25] from from backways. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. I I'm 
I have a feeling that I'm recalling from the last  
[29:33] comprehensive plan that you all did um several 
years ago that the projections were expected  
[29:38] to be a little more stable. So, it looks like 
there was more growth than they were expecting.  
[29:44] um that could be partly due to some local land 
use regulation changes or any 40bs that might  
[29:49] have come through over the last 1015 years or so 
that could have impacted that. Um things like that  
[29:55] they can't really you can't predict a 40B. Yeah. 
Yeah. And that's you part of my question is that  
[30:01] they're you know they're going to have their model 
and then there are other things that they can't  
[30:06] never mind if the model is you the li the inherent 
limitations of the model itself. Yeah, you have,  
[30:13] you know, noisy inputs and you're not capturing 
all effects. Do the effects that you're not able  
[30:18] to capture in the model end up dwarfing the trends 
that that you're able to uh that you think you're  
[30:25] able to predict? That that's where I'm going with 
that. Yeah, Chris, those are great questions and  
[30:28] I'm always skeptical of the projections. You know, 
as a planner, you know, there's so much that could  
[30:33] that could change. I see Katherine has her hand 
up. Yeah, I was just going to comment on this that  
[30:38] um I actually raised with Austin the fact that 
last time there had been two sets of projections  
[30:44] um being produced around the time we were doing 
the plan um and that you know they they've varied  
[30:49] quite a bit and so we were interested to see well 
did one of them come out as right and the other  
[30:54] one wrong or whatever and it did actually come out 
in between the two um but but it's as a result of  
[30:59] that comment I think that they've shown again 
there are two different projections available  
[31:04] um so I think That's I mean that's an 
interesting point in it in its own right and  
[31:08] uh as they've explained it depends on it depends 
partly on what you do to follow on from the plan.  
[31:14] It depends partly on your own actions in terms of 
zoning but it also depends on all sorts of things  
[31:19] like turnover in the existing housing stock and a 
lot and the economy and lots of different things.  
[31:26] Um following on that, what about neighboring 
towns to us and yet because you're working  
[31:34] with a lot of towns, Jennifer, is MAPC 
their preferred U model that other towns  
[31:41] use. It depends. We typically present both 
just because we know that the they diverge  
[31:47] and in in my opinion it highlights the fact that 
nobody really knows what's going to happen. Um,  
[31:54] so I think it's safer to just use both, 
but sometimes communities have asked us to  
[32:00] uh use one over the other. All right. Thank you. 
You're welcome. Other questions or comments?
[32:12] All right. You want to go back to Can you 
presenting Austin? I would be pleased to.  
[32:19] All right. So, my next little presentation 
section is the draft, vision, themes,  
[32:24] and goals. And I'm going to again touch on these 
um in a higher level because I know you received  
[32:28] more of the full content in your packet, and 
it wouldn't be nearly as fun for me to just  
[32:33] read them verbatim. So, where this came from, 
68 678 participation points and counting. So,  
[32:41] by using all of these different ways to get input 
that Jen kind of touched on in the beginning,  
[32:46] the community survey that was held online, the 
crowd map, which is that tool where you can drop  
[32:51] pins on the map, the meeting in a box, which I 
know some of you joined um and some that were able  
[32:56] to be hosted by the advisory committee members um 
at town hall and at the library, as well as the  
[33:02] inerson openhouse that we facilitated. using all 
those different ways. Um you've already exceeded  
[33:07] the amount of public input from the previous 
comprehensive plan and we're only halfway  
[33:12] through. So there's more public input planned 
um especially in this next stage in phase three  
[33:18] where we'll be focusing on strategies with six 
in-person workshops scheduled for midappril. So,  
[33:24] I wanted to touch on kind of that that overview of 
the public engagement process so far and what we  
[33:30] heard because what we heard directly informed 
the vision, core themes and goals. We didn't  
[33:36] invent those out of out of thin air. We took 
them through a a verbatim reading of everything  
[33:42] that we had transcribed from the open houses, the 
workshops, the meetings in a box, and the survey.  
[33:47] We heard things like people want more walkability 
and bike accessibility, more affordable housing,  
[33:53] meaning smaller units that are just easier to 
upkeep and more affordable to buy. Better public  
[33:58] transportation options. Someone said, "I want to 
feel that my kids are safe when they walk or bike  
[34:03] to school." And one person said they're looking 
for a more overarching look and feel of the town  
[34:08] to bring people together. And when we asked in 
the survey, "What do you love most about Bedford?"  
[34:13] A quarter of people said that they love that 
it's a safe community. 20 just nearly 20% of  
[34:19] people said that outstanding school public 
school system is what they loved most. Other  
[34:25] responses were accessible open spaces and natural 
resources, the town's historic significance,  
[34:30] and award-winning town services. Through the crowd 
map, we got a lot of very detailed space-based um  
[34:38] feedback that were partly drawing into the vision, 
themes, and goals and partly drawing directly into  
[34:42] some strategy ideas that we're starting to work 
on behind the scenes. People suggested ideas like  
[34:48] adding a new crosswalk to the school campus, 
more great roadfacing small shops to create a  
[34:55] visually appealing walkable shopping area like 
Conquered Center or Lexington Center. And then  
[35:00] ideas for Lumis Street in the Depot area being 
a potential second town center or common area if  
[35:06] done well with buildings like the Blake Block more 
downtown cited as an example with green space,  
[35:11] hidden parking, mixed use, outdoor seating, and 
public art. So people got a lot of good ideas  
[35:17] flowing through the crowd map and we were really 
happy to see all of those all of those engagement  
[35:21] points there. So in general the structure of the 
plan is a little bit like a Russian nesting doll.  
[35:28] The vision statement o overlies the whole thing. 
Um so that's kind of the guiding message of the  
[35:34] comprehensive plan. Each of the themes sits 
underneath that vision statement as one of the  
[35:41] kind of themes of that vision. And each theme 
has a set of goals. The goals are designed to  
[35:46] support that theme and the theme then supports the 
vision. So tonight's focus is just on the vision,  
[35:53] themes and goals. The next layer under 
that is that each goal will have a set  
[35:57] of strategy ideas. The strategies are much more 
specific ideas. Um like Jen mentioned earlier,  
[36:03] which committees are going to do which kinds of 
actions over the next 10 years or if you want to  
[36:08] study something else in particular, that's 
a strategy idea. So the goals, the vision,  
[36:13] the themes um are more intentionally higher level 
because they're more about what you're aiming for  
[36:20] rather than how you're going to get there. The 
plan is also going to include metrics. So that's  
[36:26] part of the way that you'll be able to measure 
your progress toward the goals and toward the  
[36:31] vision in the themes. Those are specific ways 
to kind of measure that success. And so we'll  
[36:36] be developing those in phases three and four as 
the strategy ideas are are worked on and revised.
[36:45] So there's six themes in the plan and these 
themes are are both going to become chapters  
[36:51] of the comprehensive plan itself but are also six 
themes that we heard from the public engagement  
[36:57] and these have been workshopped with the the 
advisory committee in two separate meetings. Um,  
[37:02] so we feel really good about presenting them here 
to you tonight. And we also have a public comment  
[37:07] survey open on our project website to get more 
public feedback on these as well. So the first  
[37:13] theme is safe and easy ways to get around. This 
is all about safety, about choice and how to  
[37:18] get around town and about mitigating traffic. 
The second theme is vibrant village centers  
[37:25] and a stronger local economy. This one's about 
strengthening what already exists in Bedford,  
[37:30] about improving the quality and function of these 
spaces as they evolve. The third one is design  
[37:37] history and a strong sense of place. This is about 
guiding how the town evolves. Really strengthening  
[37:44] the community identity through public spaces 
and through design and through a celebration of  
[37:49] the town's history. The fourth theme is homes 
that support choice, dignity, and belonging.  
[37:56] That's about providing the options that people 
need as their households evolve and as their needs  
[38:01] evolve and providing those options thoughtfully 
and in the right locations so that people can  
[38:06] have the kind of lives that they want to lead in 
Bedford. It's about choice, not about mandates.  
[38:11] It's about adapting and allowing the homes to 
meet the needs of residents as they evolve. The  
[38:18] fifth theme is belonging, civic life, and shared 
spaces. This one's about civic involvement and  
[38:24] about trust in local government. There's a lot of 
different ways in which communication has changed  
[38:30] in the last 10 years since the last comprehensive 
plan. Social media has changed a lot. Internet  
[38:34] communication is totally different. Um, so 
it's about making sure the town is up to speed,  
[38:39] up to-date, and how people want to communicate, 
how they want to engage with local government on  
[38:44] adapting and meeting to resident needs um 
through the processes that the town uses,  
[38:49] the town's facilities, and also the 
town services. And theme six is outdoor  
[38:54] recreation and environmental stewardship. 
And this reflects a really strong community  
[38:59] identity with open spaces, with the town's 
environment, sustainability, and recreation.  
[39:06] So these themes are really kind of directional 
for the plan. Each theme will be given its own  
[39:11] chapter of the plan so that we can go through in 
detail what those goals are and what the strategy  
[39:17] ideas are for each of the themes. And the goal is 
for it to be aspirational. So it's partly about  
[39:24] what success feels like in 2036 after 10 years. 
It doesn't really mandate um specific projects  
[39:31] or regulatory changes in these themes. those 
are more to come in the strategies over this  
[39:36] next phase. So this these themes start to outline 
your roadmap um which is much more of a a kind of  
[39:44] flexible approach to how you work in the next 
10 years rather than a very rigid blueprint. So  
[39:50] you've got flexibility in how you approach meeting 
the vision. It's really about how the town guides  
[39:57] change over the next 10 years. So as I mentioned 
earlier um the goals are intentionally high level.  
[40:03] The themes are intentionally high level and they 
reflect um directly what we heard from the public  
[40:08] input so far and how you go about them through 
the specific strategies that we'll be working  
[40:14] um on over the next several months 
are flexible to lots of different  
[40:18] approaches. So I'll pause here if there are any 
questions or comments on the themes thus far.
[40:32] I don't see any hands said presently. You You must 
be dazzling everybody. Austin can press on. Okay,  
[40:42] I will. So, next I just wanted to touch on the 
project timeline. Jen gave a little bit more of  
[40:48] a highlevel overview of the four phases of the 
comprehensive plan and we're just entering phase  
[40:53] three of four right now. Overall, the project 
schedule, we're operating on an expedited project  
[40:59] timeline to adhere to a contract end date of 
the end of October of this year, both on time  
[41:05] and on budget. So, when we first met with um Tony 
really in the end of the summer this past summer,  
[41:11] to kind of nail out the project management plan, 
the schedule of advisory committee meetings,  
[41:17] we scheduled all of those meetings and made the 
tentative agendas for the meetings up to a year  
[41:22] in advance. Um, so that's kind of shown on this 
schedule here. Each of the brown tiles is one  
[41:28] of the advisory committee meetings that we already 
have an agenda in mind for. So we're just entering  
[41:34] phase three right now. Phase three is all about 
the strategies as we've said. And in phase three,  
[41:39] we're planning multiple stages of review and input 
from both town staff as well as members of boards,  
[41:46] committees, and commissions and the public 
over the next several months. So phase three is  
[41:51] going to last until about midsummer or so. Um and 
there will be kind of a a volley of review stages  
[41:58] um bouncing back from town staff to us to the 
advisory committee to us to the public to the  
[42:05] advisory committee. So there's lots of layers 
of review in that. Um, and through revision and  
[42:10] and revising and revising the strategy list, 
we think you're going to really come up with  
[42:14] something that is really strongly vetted by all of 
the key stakeholders and the community in Bedford.  
[42:21] So the first up is kind of a preliminary staff 
review and we've sent a preliminary list of  
[42:26] strategy ideas that our team has prepared 
to the planning department staff so they're  
[42:31] able to look at it this week and get us some 
preliminary comments before we bring it to the  
[42:36] advisory committee at their next meeting. The 
second layer of review is the public strategy  
[42:43] working sessions. Those are scheduled for April 
and I'll touch on those in just a second. Um our  
[42:48] agenda and plan for those. The third is another 
staff board and committee commission review.  
[42:54] This time with a focus on implementation needs. 
So once the strategy list has gone through two  
[43:00] layers of review or so with the advisory committee 
with the public and then with some word smmithing  
[43:05] and adjustments from from our team, we'll bring 
it to staff boards committees and commissions  
[43:11] to focus directly on implementation. So now that 
the strategies have been ironed out a bit more,  
[43:16] what would you actually need if you're responsible 
for implementing this? What are your staffing  
[43:21] needs? What are your funding needs? What are 
the timeline considerations for this? And we can  
[43:26] bring all of that input into the implementation 
matrix closer to the end of the plan. So there's  
[43:32] advisory committee review between each stage 
of the engagement there. And open right now,  
[43:40] as I mentioned earlier, is a public comment survey 
on the vision, themes, and goals that you received  
[43:44] in your packet. We've tentatively planned to hold 
this open until this coming Wednesday, March 3rd,  
[43:50] um because that gives us enough time to summarize 
all the public feedback and bring it to the  
[43:55] advisory committee for their next meeting. So for 
any of the members of the public watching, that  
[44:00] is available on the project website. The link is 
here. It's tinyurl.com/bedford comprehensive plan.  
[44:06] That's the hub website for the project that we've 
set up to host all of the engagement activities.
[44:15] And next up, as I mentioned earlier, 
are the strategy working sessions. So,  
[44:18] the tentative dates we have held for these um and 
we're in the process of reserving those spaces,  
[44:24] as I understand it, with town staff are Sunday, 
April 12th at Town Hall in the Read Room and  
[44:29] Saturday, April 18th at Bedford High School in 
the cafeteria. We're planning for these to be  
[44:35] larger scale public events um so that we wanted 
those kind of big spaces so that we could have a  
[44:41] lot of kind of interactive activity. The design 
is some 2-hour small group discussions. There's  
[44:47] one session for each theme of the plan. So, 
six sessions total split over those two days.  
[44:54] There'll be themes 1 through 3 on April 12th and 
themes 4 through 6 on April 18th. Our plan is to  
[45:01] have these open to everyone. So whether you're a 
member of the public, whether you're town staff, a  
[45:06] member of a board or committee, um they're really 
intended to be open for everyone. The small group  
[45:11] discussions will kind of break down into basically 
going through the strategy ideas one by one for  
[45:18] each goal in that theme that's in that session. So 
there will be opportunities to talk with friends  
[45:24] and neighbors about what works about a strategy, 
if a strategy wouldn't work too well, if what they  
[45:30] think about it, basically if they need any 
revisions to it for them to feel like it's  
[45:35] it's not a deal breaker and they could support 
it in the plan or if they have any new ideas  
[45:39] that they want to bring forward. So, it's a pretty 
open-ended um but very designed workshop activity  
[45:46] for members of the public, boards, committees, and 
town staff to engage with. We'll also have a kind  
[45:52] of presentation on the comprehensive plan process 
at the beginning as well as remarks from some  
[45:57] local resource leaders. Um, and those are kind of 
folks that we're going to want to be recruiting  
[46:02] over the next few weeks if they want to offer a 
few words at the beginning of that session because  
[46:07] each session being one of the themes of the plan 
is going to have kind of a theme. So, for example,  
[46:12] in theme four, which is all about housing, if 
there's either a member of town staff or a member  
[46:18] of a border committee or just an active advocate 
in the community that wants to say a few words at  
[46:24] the beginning about the existing conditions of 
what housing is and what Bedford's status is,  
[46:31] um, in regards to that theme, they can offer a 
few words there as well, and we'll kind of coach  
[46:36] them through how to help set the stage for the 
working session. And then we'll break down into  
[46:41] small groups. And folks will get into groups 
of three to five or so and work through each  
[46:47] of the strategies. Um rank the ideas, propose any 
revisions to the strategies or suggest new ones  
[46:53] if they think there's a gap to help meet those 
goals. So we we're going to need your help sharing  
[46:59] the word to this. We're going to post it on our 
project website with a set of RSVP links. Um,  
[47:05] these will be public meetings, so an RSVP will 
not be required, but we do encourage it because  
[47:09] it helps us know how much food to bring. And 
it also helps us know um or helps us uh get  
[47:16] folks email addresses so that we can send them the 
meeting materials in advance. We'll send them the  
[47:20] pre-work packet, which is basically all of the 
strategy ideas with some space to take notes,  
[47:26] um, some space to jot down a ranking of the 
strategies in advance. We're not going to  
[47:31] collect the pre-work packets. It's just for folks 
to start thinking about the ideas before they  
[47:36] come to the meeting. Yeah, Jen, go ahead. I see 
your hand up. I didn't want to break your flow,  
[47:42] but you keep saying um ranking and it's actually 
rating. I know it's very easy to confuse those  
[47:48] two. Thank you. But yeah, we're not ranking them 
is basically putting them in order and rating  
[47:53] them is talking about which ones we really 
support, which ones we don't support at all,  
[47:58] and which ones we're feeling a little bit in 
the middle about. So that's what the activities.  
[48:04] That's exactly right. So there's two kind of 
key pieces of feedback that we'll be collecting  
[48:10] through these working sessions. The first is each 
small group is going to be taking notes about each  
[48:16] of the strategy ideas and then notes at the end 
about any other ideas that they want to see added.  
[48:22] So we'll collect those group notes um which just 
takes if 50 people attend that's a and they split  
[48:28] into small groups that's just much fewer packets 
for us to collect and easier to sort through the  
[48:33] ideas. The second piece is that we'll do the 
rating system. So each individual that joins  
[48:40] will take an exit poll and rate the strategies 
either a one if they want to remove the strategy,  
[48:46] they don't like it at all, a two if they think it 
needs a little bit of work, but they could see it  
[48:51] in the plan, and a three if they think it's 
good as is and they love it. and we'll take  
[48:56] all of those exit polls and basically average the 
results to come up with an understanding of which  
[49:02] strategies are really the most supported by the 
public um and the members that were able to come  
[49:08] to that meeting of what should be in the plan. 
So that's that's our methodology for for that.
[49:17] And I'll pause there again. Are there any 
questions or comments or ideas about this so far?  
[49:25] Uh Chris, just wanted to uh note I I I looked 
through the um your working version of the the  
[49:34] themes and goals and a lot of of good stuff there. 
Wrote some fairly lengthy comments. I'm not sure  
[49:41] if Tony's passed those along to you yet. But 
yeah, absolutely was I think what you presented  
[49:48] here great segue into strategies. And that was my 
comments were really all oriented towards strategy  
[49:55] and what what you have and the um the draft themes 
and goals. I'm really uh encourage that is the  
[50:02] next step. So I feel like this is really looking 
good. Great. I'm glad to hear that and I hope to  
[50:09] see you at some of the working sessions. So one 
look forward to attending and I and I said plural  
[50:16] because I Austin so I have a question. you you 
mentioned on uh you know of the six vision areas  
[50:22] you're going to approach or somehow you're going 
to approach or identify local experts uh advocates  
[50:30] etc in each of these areas. Um how are you going 
to do that? Yeah, if I could there's multiple  
[50:39] ways you can do it but I just want to hear what 
your thoughts are. Yeah, what we like to do is  
[50:44] get two or three re we call them resource people. 
It's, you know, it can be town staff, it could be  
[50:51] a border committee member, it's somebody who has 
a particular perspective that would be respected  
[50:56] in this group. Um, you know, and uh and how we 
would do that is we would work with the committee,  
[51:03] the advisory committee and town staff to help 
us figure out who those people are, who you want  
[51:08] to invite, and then uh we obviously have to talk 
with them soon to make sure they're even available  
[51:13] those days. Yeah. How much notice uh that you just 
your last sentence was the one uh how much notice  
[51:22] are you looking for on this to identify them? 
Yeah, I mean it would be good at your next meeting  
[51:27] which I think is the week after next. I don't have 
the date in my head. Um of the committee meeting,  
[51:32] not the planning board, uh to really start to I 
don't know if you've already talked about it at  
[51:37] your last meeting, but to start to talk about 
it and finalize that list shortly thereafter.  
[51:44] Yeah, we we haven't, but obviously there's there's 
relevant committees on each of these areas in  
[51:51] town. Um Okay. And if um if committee members 
could start thinking about it now and bring their  
[51:57] ideas to the meeting, that would be that would 
probably be more efficient. Sure. Thank you.  
[52:05] Um look like press on Austin. Well, I will not 
press much further because that is my final slide.
[52:18] Well, thank thank you all. Um, thank you for 
letting us go so long. I know we've spent almost  
[52:23] an hour of your time and I appreciate that. 
Sometimes we get 15 minutes on these agendas,  
[52:28] so I really do appreciate it. It's it's um it's 
nice to have a a lengthier discussion like this  
[52:34] and um and we we do hope you'll participate in 
those uh working sessions. Um maybe not all.  
[52:41] We don't expect people to come to all of them, 
but certainly you're welcome to all of them. I  
[52:45] know it's a long day, long two days. Um but we do 
encourage it. and then we'll come back and see you  
[52:52] um at the end towards the end of the 
the phase three and we should have a  
[52:58] short list at that point that you'll get 
in your packet um so that you can sort of  
[53:03] see where we landed and give us any additional 
comments before we start laying out the plan.
[53:11] All right, I I think that's all all we have unless 
you have any questions for us. uh questions both  
[53:18] members of the board or other people on the call 
other residents of the town of Bedford. Yes,  
[53:27] Steve. It's fun. One of the things that um that 
I was wondering as I was um listening um I know  
[53:35] we've we've scheduled you know a Saturday and a 
Sunday um three sessions each of those days um to  
[53:43] do this. So, is it your vision that, you know, 
if we have sessions at 9, noon, and 3, then in  
[53:52] each of those sessions, we'd go through sections 
1 through 3, 1 through 3, 1 through 3 on like the  
[53:59] first day. What how how are you looking at? No, 
sorry that wasn't clear. No, each session is just  
[54:05] one theme. Okay. So, session one is only theme 
one and session two is theme two. Okay. Thank you.  
[54:12] You're welcome. Yeah, we're trying to make these 
into as bite-sized chunks as we can, but still  
[54:18] allow people to have these deep discussions. So, 
clearly we got we need to make it um well known  
[54:28] to the general public the time of each session 
because obviously there's people that are focused  
[54:34] on a subject as opposed to all subjects. So, all 
right, good that we got that clear. Thank you.  
[54:42] Um, if this is everything, then we will thank 
you for your time. Look forward to seeing you  
[54:48] again shortly. Sounds good. Thank you so much. And 
then I believe we just on the board, our next item  
[54:59] on the agenda is the um 229 Old Bill Ricker Road 
subject. And the question then being, thank you,  
[55:08] J uh Jen. Thank you, Austin. Is there someone 
to speak on this subject? John, uh if I may,  
[55:15] Mr. Chair. Yes, Tony. Just at 7 just before the 
meeting started, conferring with attorney Brown,  
[55:24] uh they request that 229 be postponed to the 
March 10 meeting. Okay. Is there a motion to John,  
[55:36] you have something to say? Um I was going to 
suggest that we we let people know that the  
[55:42] other item in the session was also delayed. So for 
I think I think you need to vote on a continuation  
[55:49] for the road. Oh, agreed. But we got to so some 
hands up there. So for those in the audience,  
[55:56] the board has already continued at the request of 
the applicant. The subdivision affecting 145 Davis  
[56:05] Road and Jeffrey Circle has already been continued 
to March 10. And you and the board is about to  
[56:15] consider a request to postpone discussion of what 
is or was 229 Old Bill Rucker Road, which is going  
[56:27] to be reumbered as 6 Michael Bacon Way under the 
approved development plan for those properties.  
[56:37] Um but given the information that we just received 
tonight from town council uh the applicants  
[56:45] council and the applicant uh have requested 
to continue. They have seen those respons.
[56:56] Yeah I just like to know what we have penciled 
in for the agenda on March 10th. I'm starting  
[57:04] to think that this is going to get pretty full 
if if it's continued to the 10th rather than the  
[57:08] uh subsequent meeting. Yeah. So, the problem 
for our applicants is the subsequent meeting  
[57:16] is town meeting. Mhm. So, the planning board 
won't meet is not scheduled to meet until u
[57:29] I forgot the exact date, but the next meeting 
is April uh the next scheduled meeting is not  
[57:35] till April 14th. Mhm. Um it is I would 
guess that not everything being continued  
[57:46] tonight will be ready for discussion on the 
10th. He would agree with Tony. U Todd you  
[57:55] get your hand up. Yeah. Apologize. I was just 
looking for clarification that um the council  
[58:02] uh for 229 road has received the comments 
from town council. Uh they have not yet.  
[58:11] Okay. That uh we I've simply notified 
them that they have those comments.  
[58:16] Okay. And we'll share them either at the end 
of this meeting or tomorrow. Okay. Thank you.
[58:25] Okay. So, is there a motion 
to extend consideration of the  
[58:30] um 229 Old Bill Ricker Road uh request for lease 
of covenant to the March 10, 2026 meeting of the  
[58:39] Bedford Planning Board or say so moved? So 
moved. Thank you, Todd. Chair, I mean second.
[58:52] Second. Second. Thank you, John. How do you vote? 
Todd I. John I. Don I. Chris I. And the chair  
[59:06] votes I. All right. That is uh then officially 
extended. I think continued is a technical term,  
[59:14] right? Continued. Yeah. I I've not recovered 
from snow shoveling the U. Thank you.  
[59:23] Um I think that's all of the formal topics 
that were on the agenda and now we can go to um
[59:34] liaison reports and then staff reports. 
Anybody anything to come up from liaison?
[59:44] If not we can move on to staff reports.
[59:51] John, um I did not go to select board meeting two 
weeks ago, but I did go last night. Um they still  
[1:00:00] haven't closed the warrant officially, although 
they've they've closed all the wording is still  
[1:00:07] uh up in the air, but there aren't 
aren't going to accept any more articles.  
[1:00:11] Um there was a long discussion 
about the relationship between  
[1:00:18] uh elected boards and stat and and department 
heads and and and the relevant department heads  
[1:00:25] which honestly I don't understand where they 
where they ended up. Um and it's still going  
[1:00:32] back and forth about um the library versus the 
planning board versus the board of health. Um,  
[1:00:42] I trust it will end up in some place useful. 
Um, I don't think there was anything else.
[1:00:56] Uh, Chris, while John's thinking, this is a 
question for, uh, Mr. Mlan. Uh, two questions  
[1:01:03] actually. Um, if you want to bet on it ending up 
someplace useful, I'm happy to take your money.
[1:01:13] The uh the second question, I guess somewhat more 
seriously, although I was serious about that,  
[1:01:23] I was on the charter and bylaw review 
committee and we made a recommendation. Um,  
[1:01:28] so it wasn't simply an up or down vote on 
whether to adopt the charter and bylaws  
[1:01:34] committee recommendation and put that to town 
meeting. There was uh discussion of revising what  
[1:01:41] what we recommended. I guess it just would seem to 
me that yeah, we had this committee to recommend  
[1:01:48] changes to the the charter and and bylaws. 
time one might see fit to recommend simply  
[1:01:56] bringing forward those those recommendations 
for town meeting to consider. So I think
[1:02:07] I think there's a couple hang-ups and and and 
and part of this was from the meeting a month  
[1:02:13] ago. There was some discomfort about treating the 
library trustees different than planning board and  
[1:02:22] um board of health and and and then just 
to make things even more complicated  
[1:02:30] um you know it seems like the interpretation of 
our so there's an argument to be made that the  
[1:02:38] interpretation of our bylaws the town's bylaws 
has changed over the last five or six years. Um,  
[1:02:47] and the board and and and I think the position 
of the library board of trustees is that they  
[1:02:53] do not like the new interpretation. And if 
the new interpretation is what's happening,  
[1:02:58] they want a bylaw change to um to clarify their 
their authority visa v the library director.  
[1:03:09] So, it's it's um I think the 
technical term is a mess.
[1:03:17] I think that's a term you can 
use in polite company. Yes,  
[1:03:22] I I could use other terms, but but 
yes, this is a a family meeting. So,  
[1:03:27] um Well, I'm happy we're polite company. Worried 
sometimes. other uh reports from liaison,
[1:03:41] any information from staff? Well, just to just 
to add to John's comments about the select board  
[1:03:48] meeting last night, the the proposed bylaw changes 
do include um the changes that I announced in the  
[1:04:01] meeting preview about adding unregistered 
and uninspected and non-operable vehicles.  
[1:04:08] So among the by among the general bylaw changes 
in that that is absorbed into the larger article  
[1:04:16] to amend the the the general bylaw. It's not a not 
going to be a standalone article for the purposes  
[1:04:26] of the general bylaw. It will be a standalone 
article for the zoning part. uh it was announced  
[1:04:34] uh by the town manager and it it didn't seem to 
get any didn't really seem to get any reaction. So  
[1:04:40] 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  
[1:04:55] just specific to Kurt's question about the 
recommendation of the charter and bylaw review  
[1:05:01] committee where there was compromised language 
that the planning board and board of health kind  
[1:05:06] of accepted where you know policy you know, policy 
direction from the elected board still applies  
[1:05:15] to my position and to the director of health. But 
the uh there are concerns still among the library  
[1:05:25] trustees and the library trustees had suggested an 
amendment to the to whatever compromised language  
[1:05:34] and that seemed to go in a lot of seemed to have a 
lot of circles last night. So that issue I assume  
[1:05:40] will get further discussion at their next 
meeting. Um other I'm not sure if there are  
[1:05:46] other elements of the bylaw recommendations that 
are getting um anywhere near that much scrutiny.  
[1:05:56] Uh otherwise the the um I think the draft warrants 
now with like 32 articles. Um, thank you to member  
[1:06:03] Crowley for offering to step up and present 
uh the cottage overlay district which will be  
[1:06:09] on your next agenda as a public hearing item. 
Uh, we will also need somebody to speak on the  
[1:06:20] addition to unregistered vehicles being modified 
to include uninspected or nonoperable vehicles.  
[1:06:32] Is that one not being proposed by the select 
board? Oh, but it is. Oh, that's true. Uh, yeah,  
[1:06:40] I'll have to work. But well, somebody's still 
going to have to give whatever the planning  
[1:06:43] board recommendation is. But Mhm. um yeah, we'll 
have to work out with the town manager whether  
[1:06:49] the presentation is actually going to be done by 
the select board or by well I guess the only other  
[1:06:59] person would be the town manager, but so we'll 
have to start looking at that because it is it's
[1:07:12] It's an interesting dynamic. Um,
[1:07:21] yeah. Otherwise, um, we are continuing 
to have discussions with, uh, Cummings  
[1:07:29] Properties over the future of the two office 
buildings at 174 and 176 Middle Sex Turnpike.  
[1:07:37] Uh we are going to have a construction 
coordination meeting with Brian Develis in  
[1:07:43] a month or well within a month about the start of 
construction of the multi- well the mixed housing  
[1:07:52] project that was the 40B on Carile Road. It's 
not your jurisdiction, but we're sticking our  
[1:07:58] fingers in to make sure it gets built in 
accordance with the decision. And then um
[1:08:09] um other um we're hopeful that other projects 
that have been sitting on the back burner may  
[1:08:16] also finally get up and running this year as um 
interest rates have finally maybe at least leveled  
[1:08:22] off and people are re calibrating the finances to 
get some of these other approved projects built.
[1:08:40] I think that's all we have. Yeah. Yeah. To 
that end, the U part of the presentation we  
[1:08:48] saw tonight was another town downtown area over 
on Lim Street, but there's the development at  
[1:08:56] Railroad Avenue Junction there that is is still on 
hold, it seems, unless you've heard that they've  
[1:09:04] uh improved their financing and construction. 
Yeah. So, the mixeduse project at one railroad  
[1:09:10] avenue was actually um on the select board consent 
agenda last night to accept the revised easements  
[1:09:19] related to the parking and sidewalk where right 
we're trading some on street parking in order for  
[1:09:26] the public sidewalk to be on the private property 
and for that project to um get off the ground.  
[1:09:33] And so they are anticipating breaking ground this 
spring. They've been working with Eversource on um
[1:09:45] applying the pro whatever protective things 
they're going to do on the wires because some  
[1:09:50] of you may recall that building is tight to right 
some locations the second and and and top story  
[1:09:57] are a little tight to the wire. So that requires 
some carefully planned construction methodology.  
[1:10:06] Um that's being that's been worked out. U say the 
revised easements related to the parking. Well,  
[1:10:14] um yeah. So, in the on street parking, uh there's 
also been a discussion with the fire department  
[1:10:21] about um reducing the on street parking just a 
bit so that they will have fire um we're creating  
[1:10:31] basically a fire access lane. I don't somewhere 
to actually park uh a fire engine should there  
[1:10:40] be an event at that location. Um so so the the 
preconstruction discussions have been ongoing.  
[1:10:48] Uh the building permit uh applications are live 
and under active review by various departments. So  
[1:10:57] um they think they've got um they think they've 
got the funding worked out. They think they've got  
[1:11:03] all the you know they've been working on the on a 
variety of contracts. They've been they brought in  
[1:11:09] a housing consultant to deal with the u two of the 
units have to be affordable units. So they've been  
[1:11:17] going through the paces of getting the affordable 
units and the paperwork involved with that all  
[1:11:24] queued up. So um so it looks kind of promising 
that that might actually get up and underway.
[1:11:34] Thank you. That's encouraging. other 
subjects from anyone on the call.
[1:11:42] Todd? Yeah, three things now. Um, again, the 
priest bill can put their name in the hat,  
[1:11:49] but I would be willing to present um the zoning 
change for the vehicles on a lot if needed. Um,  
[1:11:58] number one. Number two, uh I do have I made at 
least the first draft of the slide deck for the  
[1:12:04] um cottage overlay district. I have a few 
questions for the the planning board in terms of  
[1:12:12] um and and staff um in terms of one um how much 
of the initial proposal that was shown in front  
[1:12:23] 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,  
[1:12:33] but I wanted to get the planning board's thoughts 
cuz I know it may not be what gets built,  
[1:12:38] but that's what was shown because it kind of 
shows the 1800 square feet and so forth. Um,  
[1:12:43] but I didn't know what was appropriate.
[1:12:48] I I'd recommend being cautious about showing 
project because that's not what being photo
[1:12:59] but okay. Um but do you think I 
shouldn't even show any pictures  
[1:13:05] but I my words can really convey 
how this is a proposal. I don't  
[1:13:10] know potential you know initial proposal 
not necessarily what would be built but
[1:13:20] Chris I think are really good they can convin
[1:13:36] sorry distracting Um there's uh maybe it's not 
appropriate it's probably not appropriate to  
[1:13:44] choose areas of town um or sketches of of projects 
that are envisioned for town which they may or may  
[1:13:52] not uh proceed. But if you could find examples 
of 10 units per acre and you 1800ish square foot  
[1:14:03] 15- 1800 square foot homes in other locations. 
you know, be it Arlington or, you know, Actton,  
[1:14:12] um, so that folks have an idea of what they would 
be endorsing. I think that would be a good idea.  
[1:14:22] I'll see what I can find. Yeah, I know it's easy 
to say, but where do we pick up pictures like  
[1:14:30] that? Um, and all right, thank you. Um, yeah, I 
am inclined to to put some in, but uh maybe keep  
[1:14:39] some of the details not there. Um, one thing I 
have to say that I'm a little frustrated with,  
[1:14:45] but it seems like every time I give the slide deck 
to I forget the nice gentleman. Um, but he never  
[1:14:52] puts the uh like uh backup slides in, so I can't 
rely on having those because I don't think they  
[1:14:58] get put in. Um, which I understand because 
it's a whole one slide deck for everything.  
[1:15:04] Um, but I I wish that could be different. Um, also 
just the second question, I my first initial pass  
[1:15:10] I actually don't have anything about 40y in 
there explicitly. Again, that's something I  
[1:15:15] probably put in in the backup slides, but seems 
like wouldn't be there. But, um, but I'll have in  
[1:15:19] the back of my mind somewhere written down so that 
if there's questions, if somebody is aware of it,  
[1:15:25] at least it can be discussed. Um, but I wasn't 
going to put anything in there. Um, and then  
[1:15:31] lastly, yeah. Yeah, sorry. My my third thing was 
uh something I'd like the planning board to think  
[1:15:38] about, not for this town meeting. Um that that is 
I just learned recently within the past month that  
[1:15:45] um we are not required to uh keep our sidewalks 
clean uh especially in the winter with snow. Uh I  
[1:15:52] actually thought that was a requirement. I don't 
believe it is unless somebody says differently,  
[1:15:55] but that's what I was told um by the DPW. um like 
to think about potentially is that a good idea for  
[1:16:02] us to propose to into the bylaws in the future and 
or is there anything we can do as a community to  
[1:16:08] help more help um the town clear sidewalks? Uh 
as I'm pretty frustrated with how things have  
[1:16:14] gone the past few storms, especially near the 
schools. Um and I and I wasn't happy that today  
[1:16:21] had to be cancelled. That that bums me out. 
I wish that we could do more to help the town  
[1:16:25] um as a organization, community, something 
volunteers to help out. I'm more than willing  
[1:16:30] to do miles if I need to um with my snowblower. 
So, just something to think about in the future.  
[1:16:35] Um like to put something more official 
on the agenda. Thanks. And to that end,  
[1:16:44] could you make sure that gets folded into the um 
this long-term plan that we're supposedly working  
[1:16:50] on cuz that's that's end that topic of getting 
around town. If the sidewalks aren't plowed or,  
[1:16:57] you know, then you know that's a problem. So yes, 
we should cover it, but also there's a place that  
[1:17:03] should be documented. John. Yeah. So, I actually 
looked into this question, I think last year. The  
[1:17:10] state requires that sidewalks be cleared, but it 
allows it to be delegated to the residents. Um,  
[1:17:17] and Bedford has chosen not to do that. Um, I will 
not uh go on in in this particular form of whether  
[1:17:25] I think that's that's right or wrong because that 
might I don't know might be a discussion. But  
[1:17:31] uh but uh my my understanding is is that the 
town has taken responsibility for it. Whether  
[1:17:41] they need to do better whether we need to do 
better job is perhaps a different question. But
[1:17:48] thank you. Other subjects from anyone?
[1:17:55] Is anybody uh is anyone else tired from uh the 
latest snow days and wants to adjourn early? You  
[1:18:04] could just say move to adjourn. Move to adjurnn. 
Second. Roll call vote. How do you vote? Todd I.  
[1:18:14] Don I. Chris I. John. just to go along. I Yeah. 
And the chair go votes I also. I'm looking forward  
[1:18:26] to see everybody next March our next March 
meeting which uh may be a long prep of town  
[1:18:33] meeting etc etc. Thank you all for your community 
service. See you soon. Thanks. Night. Good night.