Planning Board

Tuesday, June 23, 2026

Bedford Plaza Hotel site redevelopment and park transfer — Potential zoning flexibility and new public park funded by special obligation bonds

1 public comment 4 decisions Routine Zoning Change

Monday, June 22, 2026

Bedford Plaza Hotel Redevelopment — Transformation of a commercial site into a public park and mixed-use development involving special obligation bonds.

2 public comments 3 decisions Routine Zoning Change

Tuesday, June 9, 2026

145 Davis Road Subdivision — Creation of four new lots with changes to existing floodplain boundaries.

4 public comments 3 decisions Routine Zoning Change

Tuesday, May 26, 2026

Dark Sky Bylaw — Future regulatory changes to lighting standards and enforcement.

7 public comments 4 decisions 1 not addressed awaiting minutes Routine Zoning Change

Tuesday, May 12, 2026

Sidewalk Snow Removal Ordinance — Potential mandate for private maintenance of public-facing sidewalks.

3 public comments 1 decision awaiting minutes Routine Other High Impact

Tuesday, April 28, 2026

Sidewalk Snow Removal Ordinance — Potential financial penalties/fines for failure to clear snow within 24 hours.

2 decisions awaiting minutes Routine Fee Change

Tuesday, April 14, 2026

Cottage Overlay District and Housing Density — Broad impact on town density, school enrollment, and housing stock types.

7 public comments 5 decisions Routine Zoning Change

Tuesday, March 10, 2026

The meeting was largely procedural and unified at the vote level, but genuine tension surfaced in Patty Dahlgren's emotionally charged testimony about property harm from a neighbor's inoperable vehicles, the board's own density self-questioning on the cottage overlay district, and a public misunderstanding about state housing mandates that required on-record correction — together signaling community unease about housing density and enforcement that is likely to intensify at the upcoming town meeting.

11 decisions Routine

Tuesday, February 24, 2026

The meeting was largely procedural and collaborative, but Chris's openly skeptical remark about Select Board governance follow-through, unresolved inter-board coordination on bylaw articles, and cautious messaging strategy around the cottage overlay district introduce a low but real level of institutional friction above a fully routine meeting.

3 decisions Routine

Tuesday, February 10, 2026

Cottage Overlay District Zoning Bylaw — New Housing Type Permitted in Bedford — Town-wide zoning change creating a new overlay district for small-scale residential development; to be voted on at the March 23rd town meeting, affecting future development patterns across qualifying parcels in Bedford.

1 public comment 9 decisions 1 not addressed Routine Zoning Change

Tuesday, January 27, 2026

While the board itself was collegial and largely consensus-driven, the meeting was substantively contentious due to the combination of consequential zoning policy decisions made without any public participation, the deliberate elimination of state-level affordability and bedroom protections, and the discovery that official meeting minutes are mismatched from an entirely different board and year — all of which represent meaningful accountability failures for the Bedford community.

5 decisions Spirited

Tuesday, January 20, 2026

The meeting was substantively contentious due to unresolved internal disagreements over discretionary review, density concerns, regulatory uncertainty from the state, and the introduction of a new real estate transfer tax — all with zero public participation to provide community grounding or accountability.

4 decisions Spirited