Submitted by Helen Litchfield
I have lived on Carlisle Road for more than 60 years. I moved here because of the small town that it was. I do realize that times have changed, and growth is inevitable. Our town has experienced an overabundance of development in recent years. I understand that housing (affordable or not) is a need in all towns at this time.
There is a point where enough is enough! Bedford met its quota for affordable housing long ago. Yet we have recently completed some major projects and have many in progress (Old Billerica Road, South Road & Summer Street, South Road & Loomis Street, Great Road, Village at Bedford Woods, South Road Independent and Assisted Living, etc.) and one of the biggest developments in Bedford – a 120 mixed family housing units and a 51-unit senior (55 +) apartment building on Carlisle Road. Do we really need something of this magnitude? Do we really want something that will take up this much land (land surrounded by conservation areas and wetlands)?
I was surprised how few people attended the many meetings along the way with this project. If people were informed and really thought about the impact on our town that this project would have, I can’t imagine that they would have agreed to it. Yes, I will be directly affected by this project as I will have to deal with the increased noise, light, and traffic.
Many of you reading this may think that this project does not concern you…it is not on your street, in your neighborhood, or in your part of town. This development, as well as the others, will affect you and everyone else in this town.
We all know traffic in Bedford is an issue throughout the day and throughout the town. The Carlisle Road/North Road intersection and the North Road/Concord Road intersections are already confusing and dangerous and cause large backups during the morning and afternoon commute times.
Traffic from this project will directly increase the congestion and safety of those intersections.
This project will impact our schools, police, and fire departments.
Please join me and attend the Zoning Board meeting at the Town Hall auditorium on Thursday, May 9 at 7:30 p.m. to educate yourself on the project and express any questions or concerns that you might have.
The opinions expressed in Letters to the Editor are those of the writer, not The Bedford Citizen.
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Just to be clear, when the author moved here in the 60s, she was part the largest population explosion Bedford ever saw, increasing from just over 5k residents in 1950 to over 13k in 1970, erasing the rural character so many moved to Bedford for. The population has slowly creeped up to over 14k in the subsequent 50 yrs, hardly the massive influx people seem to feel they are experiencing. In fact, our population has dropped slightly between 2020 and 2023. A lot of the development in town is the replacement of older, smaller homes or the conversion of 2 family homes to single family. Change is hard. We all tend to look back on what we had as the ideal, and I am sure that many of the folks who lived here when Ms. Litchfield arrived in the 1960s felt the same way about that huge population increase.
We need more housing in Bedford, and in all towns in Eastern Mass. I want our kids to be able to live here.
A developer owns the land. Personally, I’d prefer it remain forested. But realistically, something is going in there.
And how cool would it be if it remained forested? Um … hint hint to the developer?
Yeah, I didn’t think that’d work either.
So, given the choice between a cul de sac with about 10 mega-mansions that sell for $2M or more – which is what I believe DeVellis can build by right, and a diversified neighborhood of 130ish smaller units that will help fill in the middle housing gap in Bedford, I choose the latter.
It’d be great if there was small scale commercial included in the development, so that folks wouldn’t have to drive through town to get to Starbucks. But I don’t know that would help with your traffic concerns.
I agree that this is a very important development being proposed for the Town of Brdford. I agree that the residents of the Town of Bedford are not aware or interested in the development of the town. People own real estate in the town but do not have any interest in the future of the COMMUNITY. I have no negative opinions regarding this development. I just want Bedford residents to become involved!
I’m one of your Bedford neighbors and I want a lot more housing built in Bedford. Our children can’t afford to live in the area, because we refuse to build.
I think if these developments continue on this scale we will become a city like Somerville and Waltham which is fine ( I lived in Somerville) if that is what your looking for . Definitely against more housing.
This assertion is wildly off base. Somerville has a population density of 19,671/sq mile. The proposed development calls for 120 units on 35 acres, which is 0.0546875 square miles. 1/0.0546875 = 18.285 plots of this size per square mile. That would be 2194 per square miles, yielding 5485.7/sq mile at a liberal 2.5 residents per unit. That’s less than a third of the Somerville population density! Waltham is a closer comparison, being off by only a thousand, if we honestly believe that every single acre in Bedford would be replaced with this kind of development when people are already complaining about a reasonable 120 units of multi-family development.
It has always depended on who is doing the building, “me or someone else”…
Two 4 story apartment buildings , 10 to 12 row houses down Carlisle Road 25 feet apart 35 feet from the street ,filling the buildable area to within nearly inches of the wet land set backs . Someone who is trying to tell me this is a good idea is insulting my intelligence .