Special Planning Board Hearing on Apartments for Bedford

Developers are seeking to build a 120-unit apartment building complex off Chestnut Drive on Bow Lane (a yet undeveloped street) in Bedford.

Per a letter posted to the school board minutes, there will be a hearing of the Planning Board on August 27th where the developers will present their plan for this "workforce housing development", with a Zoning hearing sometime in August. We suggest you plan to attend.

We will update this post if the date changes.

Here is the text of the letter, which was in email format:

Bow Lane and Restaurant Project

Fri, Jun 29, 2018 at 4:15 PM

From: Bill Greiner

To: Chip McGee <mcgeec@sau25.net

Hi Chip,

Dick Anagnost and I are working on a plan to redevelop the former Shorty’s property, as well as roughly 6 acres on Bow Lane (a paper road off Chestnut Drive). We are proposing 120 apartment units (it will be a workforce housing development almost identical to the ones Dick and I built behind Copper Door). We are interested in bringing water and sewer from the high school site down to the apartments and then to the former Shorty’s site as well as to properties on Chestnut Drive. Because of the demand for energy from the apartments, Liberty Utilities would be able to run, at no cost, natural gas lines to the SAU, McKelvie, Lurgio, and BHS, and then down to the apartments and then to Chestnut and the former Shorty’s site. The density of the apartments is what triggers the tariff formula to allow this to be done at no cost to the taxpayers other than conversion costs. Sewer and water are important for us to move forward with our development, and we, of course would absorb all of the costs for extending those from BHS. In turn, our project would trigger the ability for natural gas to come to the various District buildings and result in ongoing cost savings and efficiency for taxpayers.

We have also looked to bring sidewalks from BHS and Lurgio along Chestnut Drive to 101, and are talking with DPW about straightening out parts of Chestnut leading to BHS and Lurgio. There is a special Planning Board meeting that will be scheduled on August 27th to hear our conceptual plan, and you are welcome to attend or send your comments along to Becky Hebert. Additionally, we will have a Zoning Board hearing in August to have variances for our project heard as well. Similarly, you are welcome to attend or send in comments.

We look forward to working with you and the board on this project.

Sincerely,
Bill Greiner