Accountability posts

**Bedford Select Board — February 9, 2026: What You Need to Know Before Town Meeting**

The Bedford Select Board met Monday night with a packed agenda, and while all formal votes were unanimous, several issues deserve closer attention from residents before they reach Town Meeting.

**A potential new real estate transfer tax surfaced without warning.** During a routine liaison report — not a posted agenda item — a Select Board member mentioned that a home rule petition for a real estate transfer fee to fund affordable housing may be coming to Town Meeting. A real estate transfer fee is a tax on property sales. This is exactly the kind of policy proposal that should be a posted agenda item with advance public notice, not a sentence dropped at the end of a meeting. Residents who might have opinions about a new tax on home sales had no way to know this was coming or to show up prepared.

**Springs Brook Park may never look the same again.** The Recreation Department and a consultant presented a master plan recommending that the beloved natural pond at Springs Brook Park be replaced with a constructed pool facility. The Recreation Commission voted to recommend the pool, citing operational challenges with the pond. But the Select Board Chair — who called Springs Brook an iconic Bedford landmark — pushed back strongly: "This takes Springs Brook's soul out of it completely." No vote was taken at this meeting, but the recommendation is moving forward. This would be a permanent, irreversible change to one of Bedford's most cherished public spaces. Residents should weigh in before Town Meeting makes it official.

**Library governance and a rushed zoning bylaw got no real answers.** Two residents gave public comment on charter amendment language that could affect library director independence — one flagging ambiguous wording, the other asking the board to formally support the amendment. The board did not respond to either speaker. Separately, the Select Board Chair openly said a starter home overlay district zoning bylaw was moving "very quickly" and that it made him nervous — and the Planning Board was set to decide the very next morning. Town-wide zoning changes affecting property values and neighborhood density deserve more than an overnight public deliberation window.

Also at the meeting: the board is expected to support Bedford's $61,427 share of a feasibility study for Shawsheen Tech's aging 1970 building (serving 1,300 students, never fully renovated); approved a revised eligibility letter for an 84-unit Chapter 40B affordable housing project at 82 Carlisle Road; and unanimously approved a modest, sensible increase to the senior property tax work-off program cap, from $1,000 to $1,500 per participant. Town Meeting is approaching. These decisions are being shaped now. https://meetingwatch.org/ma/bedford/select-board/2026-02-09/ #MeetingWatch #BedfordMA