THE BEDFORD BANNER
Bedford Chamber of Commerce Newsletter
June/2012
Vol. 14   Issue 9
In This Issue
Cambridge Savings Bank Senior Prom Stroll
Toward a Healthier Bedford
What the Chamber did in May?
Sign Bylaw
Chamber Connections
Chamber Calendar
Cambridge Savings Bank Senior Prom Stroll
June 5
Town Common
4:45 PM

 

 

 

Bedford's "Toward a Healthier Bedford" Steering committee asks for your assistance in defining what a "healthy community" means for the Town of Bedford by answering a brief 5 question initial survey located here:www.bedfordma.gov/BedfordInMotion. 
They are interested in feedback from Bedford residents, business owners, and employees alike. They are using a broad definition of health: not only the absence of disease, but the full range of quality of life influences: physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, cultural, occupational, social and environmental needs and outcomes.

The information gathered here may help to guide future programming or community activities. If you prefer a paper copy, you may find them at the Youth & Family Service and the Health Departments offices in the Town Center yellow building. Please contact: [email protected] with question

 

 

 

What the Chamber did in May?

 

Mens Breakfast Club ~ Wasim Chaudhuri
Catch the Net ~ Edward Jones Investments
Working Women Alliance ~ Brightview Concord River
Sign Bylaw Meeting
Liquor Policy Committee Meeting
Board of Directors Meeting
Chamber Connection

 

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 Cathy Zolner, Holistic Health Coach
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Sign Bylaw Updates

by Jeff Cohen

    The Sign Bylaw Review Committee will be recommending updates to the existing Sign Bylaw, which will require Town Meeting approval to enact.

    The committee's goal is to bring its recommendations to the Annual Town Meeting in March, 2013. Early on, the committee recognized that it did not want to overwhelm Town Meeting with a complete overhaul of the Sign Bylaw to the degree that the proposed revisions would be too much to swallow and the residents would reject much of what the committee was trying to accomplish. The committee did not want to throw the baby out with the bathwater, but rather, focus on amending the current document to address several of its most obvious deficiencies. Some of the updates are grammatical in nature and could be covered within one or two warrant articles. Other recommendations are much more complex and will have to be specifically addressed in several warrant articles. Part of the process will involve educating the public ahead of time about the committee's work and to that end, a public workshop is tentatively planned for the October, 2012.

    The committee is taking a three-pronged approach to updating the Sign

    Bylaw: 1) Correct/edit the confusing language and ambiguities in the document as currently drafted to make it easier to interpret and understand, and more specifically, clarify the sections of the Bylaw that the ZBA typically struggles to interpret; 2) Change the one-size-fits-all approach in the current document and provide new Zone-specific requirements in recognition of the fact that what is appropriate for signage in Business/Commercial districts doesn't necessarily work well in Industrial districts; and 3) Make the Sign Bylaw more business-friendly in a manner that is palatable at Town Meeting (we want to address as many of the Chamber of Commerce member's comments/concerns as possible). There are probably more changes that need to be made than could reasonably be brought to the floor at one Town Meeting, so the committee will be considering how to best present its recommendations at the 2013 Annual Town Meeting. The committee may have to prioritize which are the most important items to present at this time and delegate other recommendations to be brought to the floor at subsequent Town Meetings, again, so as not to overwhelm the residents.

    Here is a quick snapshot of some of the recommendations we've made thus

    far: Increase the permitted size of freestanding signs in the Business zone from 20 SF to 30 SF (keeping limitations of maximum 6'-height x 5'-width); Provided the ability for businesses that front two streets in the Business zone to request a Special Permit to increase the area for their signs (presently does not exist) and revised the potential increase in area for wall signs from 20% to 25% of the first floor wall area; Added a provision that property owners may seek a Special Permit to erect more than one freestanding sign on their lot (primarily large campus settings, but not limited solely thereto); Eliminated the requirement that wall signs on adjacent storefronts must share the "same signing format" (to eliminate the "all letters must be the same color"

    mentality in recognition of corporate branding); Eliminated the requirement that illumination of signs between 11 pm and 6 am must identify the entrance to the establishment (The requirement to seek a Special Permit to illuminate signs for businesses that are open between these hours remains, but there is now wider discretion available to the ZBA to grant approval); Revised the requirement that wording on flags must include the "business name" to state that the flag must "relate to the nature of the business;" Added language that permits "OPEN" flags to be displayed on the premises during normal business hours; and we are recommending that the term "Political Sign" be replaced with "Temporary Non-Commercial Sign" and the timeframe to display such signs be revised to not more than 30-days in a calendar year (this one is still a work in progress).

    Based on what we heard from the Chamber of Commerce members, the committee will recommend that temporary sandwich board signs be permitted under certain circumstances; that barber poles be allowed to revolve and be internally-illuminated; and that the prohibition on internally illuminated signs be reconsidered.


 

 

 

CHAMBER CONNECTIONS 

 

 

 Each month, Executive Director Maureen Sullivan tapes the Chamber Connections at the Bedford Tv Studio. Check out the links below of who she has interviewed and if you are  interested in being a guest, email her at [email protected]

 

Mara Briere - Grow a Strong Family

The UPS Store

 

 Joan Turnberg - Live LIfe Well
 

Dr. Jean Marc Slak ~ Slak Chiropractic Group


Lea Ann Knight ~ Garrison Knight Financial

 

The Goddard School

 

Brookline Bank


Kristen Presley/Bedford VA

Karen Kenney/ OrganizingWorks

JRM Antiques

 

 

_________________________________________________________________

 

Chamber Calendar 

 

 

June 5 

Senior Prom Stroll
Town Common
4:45 PM
Class Picture @
5:15 PM

  

June 12
Working Women Alliance
Speaker Maureen Weisner
The Boardroom Bistro
5:30 PM 
 

June 14
Board of Directors
Bedford Police Station
7:30 AM 

 

    June 21

Mens Breakfast Club
Speaker Jay Hartz
Doubletree Bedford Glen Hotel
44 Middlesex Turnpike
Bedford, MA 01730

7:30 AM

 

June 27

Summer Cook Out
Depot Square

Hosted by

JRM Antiques

 

 

SAVE THE DATE

Lowell Spinners
July 12, 2012

 

 

 

 

 

JOIN US FOR A SUMMER BASH WITH THE LOWELL SPINNERS

JULY 12, 2012
7:05 PM

 

Ticket includes a hot dog, beverage and ice cream.

15.00 per person

 

We have secured 70 tickets and they will be distributed first come ..

So don't wait... email the Chamber office and reserve your tickets today!!

 

 

2012 CHAMBER MEMBERS   

 

 

Acme Packet Inc

Advanced Media Web

Atlantic Capital Stregies
Atria Longmeadow
Baldwin Insurance
Baudanza Electric
B2B CFO
B&D Agency

Bedford Acupuncture Center
Bedford Car Wash
Bedford Center
for the Arts

Bedford Children's Center
Bedford Farms

Bedford Funeral Home, Inc
Bedford Historical Society

Bedford Plaza Hotel

Bedford Motel
Bedford Orthodonics
Brightview Concord River

Brookline Bank
Brown & Brown, P.C.
Cafe Luigi

Callahan's Karate Studio
Calling All Pets

Cambridge Savings Bank
Carlton & Duran CPAs

Carleton-Willard Village

Christine Pinney MArketing

CouponSurfer.com

Cranberry Hill Associates

Dalya's

Design 1 Kitchen & Bath

Design Photo

Dr. Dianne Brisgeman

Dr. Kiana Kaymanesh

Dr. Oscar DePriest

DSA Printing

Edward Jones
Elm Brook Place

EMD Millipore

Enterprise Bank
Family Growin Stronger

First Parish
Flatbread Company
Frank Webb's Bath Center

Fujifilm Recording Media U.S.A.
Garrison Knight Financial Planning
GE Infrastructure Sensing, Inc.

Genetti's Wine & Spirits, Inc
Get In Shape for Women
Great Road Gallery & Framing
Grow a Stronger Family
Hanscom Federal Credit Union
Harold Nichols Insurance Agency
Heritage at Bedford Springs

Inner Visions Interiors
JRM Antiques

Inside Outside Staging
Kamate Fitness

Keller Williams Realty

Latady Design
Leary Auto Repair

Lexington Symphony

Live Life Well
Massage Therapy Associates

McColough Associates, Inc
Middlesex Savings BAnk

Minuteman Volkswagon Inc.
New England Nurseries, Inc.

North Road Chiropractic
Organix Spa & Salon
OrganizingWorks!
Panospin Studios
 
Patents Etcetera and Minuteman Legal Services
 
Patriot Pediatrics
Peter Quinn Insurance Agency

 
Progress Software
Pulte Homes of New England

Quality Database Design

Rental Car Momma
Richard Egan Insurance Agency

Right At Home

Salon Alfonse
Salon OZ
Scotia Lights
Serenity Yoga
Slak Chiropractic Group
Spencer Company

St. Michael's Parish Center
TD Bank
The Bedford Minuteman
The Boardroom Bistro

The Divorce Collaborative
The Edge Sports Center

The Goddard School

The Higgins Group
The MITRE Corporation
The Tired Dog

The UPS Store
Town Planner

Vela Ventures

Watson Law Offices
William Raveis Real Estate

Women's Financial Network