At its meeting on November 16, 2021, the Planning Board formally began work on the Zoning Bylaw Reorganization Project that was funded by Town Meeting in 2019. It held a discussion with its newly-appointed consultants, Barrett Planning Group LLC and reviewed the expectations and timeline for the project. The focus of this review of Bedford’s Zoning Bylaw is on the document’s organization, clarity, and usability rather than its policy content. Its recommendations may also include updates for changes in state law or other aspects of legal consistency.
As a first step, the consultants will be interviewing, in small groups, a range of people who have experience as users of the Zoning Bylaw, whether as Town board members, applicants or design professionals for development projects, local property owners or their advisors. A selection of likely participants will be contacted directly but if anyone else would like to be involved, they should contact Tony Fields, Planning Director by phone 781-275-1548 or email afields@bedfordma.gov .
Town staff will also be consulted, and planning staff has already compiled some suggested changes and areas for review.
The consultants will produce a Zoning Diagnostic outlining the problems it identifies and the directions it proposes for addressing them, before writing a detailed draft of an amended Bylaw. There will be opportunities for public comment, and two further drafts are anticipated before the changes are presented to Town Meeting, potentially in the fall of 2022.