Councilors spent an extended part of the meeting refining a public survey and education materials about town facilities, focusing particularly on firefighters’ and police needs, prior failed safety-complex warrant articles and whether to ask the public separately about two different proposals that recently failed at the ballot.
Councilor Levesque, who led the item, said the survey will ask residents to rank town properties for repair or renovation and to explain why recent proposals for a combined fire-police facility and a separate fire substation failed on ballot questions. "So the first one is strictly location... the next one is around the cost... I would use this analogy. If I look at something and it's a $100 and I think, I'm not paying that. It's only worth 70. That's a value question," Levesque said while describing the survey wording.
Councilors agreed to separate the distinct proposals (the combined fire–police complex and a smaller fire substation) into separate survey items so residents can register differing views about value and scope. Councilor Carter urged separating the two because the proposed projects were “very different in scope and dollar.” Councilor Levesque accepted the suggestion and said he would reword questions to allow multiple answers and to remove a single “all of the above” option that could obscure nuance.
The council also discussed geography and response bias. Members proposed a four-quadrant map (based on the police patrol quadrants) to let respondents indicate preferred locations if land becomes available. Councilor Strand noted the map would reveal whether respondents answer selfishly for their area but said the visual would provide useful data about who is responding.
Councilors and staff discussed infrastructure pressures on South River Road, where a large share of emergency calls concentrate. A councilor summarized historical call data: "fire and ambulance calls represent 80% of the calls with the highest volume along South River Road," and a later participant said he had observed that metric growing from 70% to 80% over ten years. Town Manager Rick Sawyer reported that he believed the governor had signed legislation limiting some local zoning controls on multifamily housing in commercial zones, which the council said could affect future growth patterns; Sawyer said he would review the new law and report back. "It's my understanding that the governor signed the bill yesterday that exempts local zoning on multifamily housing and all commercial zones," he told the council, and added he would review authority and limits.
The council also discussed impact fees. Staff explained that, under current law and practice, impact fees may be charged only for the marginal cost of future growth and generally require a defined project and cost basis; councilors said impact fees are difficult to impose absent a defined capital project and cost estimate. "Impact fees can only be used for future growth," the town manager said, and staff cautioned an impact fee would be hard to defend without an approved project and cost estimate.
Survey mechanics and timing: councilors asked staff to finalize the Monkey (online) survey, create a QR code and place an educational insert in the Bedford Bulletin; staff and the survey lead agreed to return with the ready-to-launch mechanics at the August meeting and then decide final publication timing (some councilors suggested waiting until after Labor Day to reach residents who vacation in August).
Why it matters: the survey and subsequent planning will inform whether and how the town pursues facility repairs or new construction and whether the town will pursue zoning or capital strategies to manage growth and emergency-service demand.
What’s next: staff will update the survey per council feedback, finalize the map and education materials, and present the ready-to-launch survey mechanics at the next council meeting for a launch decision.