[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.

Planning Board Meeting 02/24/26

Transcript