By Jaime Craven
At their June 6 meeting, the Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) discussed policy for declaring a building historically significant, and thus “preferably preserved,” in accordance with Bedford’s Demolition Delay Bylaw. The current bylaw holds that the owner of a building completed before January 1, 1943 must submit a written application to the HPC before he or she can demolish the potentially historic property. However, the changes proposed in January would bump back that date to 1927. Though there have been no new hearings on this topic since the last HPC meeting, and the changes must still be amended in the bylaw.
Board member Don Corey used this time to run through a list of considerations that, he argued, should be prioritized when assessing a building, including not just the building’s outward appearance but also its “footprint,” or size, and its living space. Chiming in, member Dan Silverman asserted that a new building should not be larger than the previous one, in order to preserve the look and feel of the surrounding neighborhood. Corey plans to draft and submit a letter on these points to the Historical Society shortly.
Corey also expressed his concerns regarding the survival of Willson Park, that tiny speck of land at the intersection of the Concord, North, and Great Roads, where the Minutemen, in preparation for the Lexington Skirmish (April 19, 1775), popped a red cap atop a 25-foot pole in defiance of King George.
“One of the proposals would make it a T-intersection, and Willson Park is just gone,” said Corey. “History, gone.” He went on: “Somebody called and said, ‘Why isn’t the Historical Society doing anything about this?’ And I said, ‘The Historical Society is nonprofit, and we have absolutely no authority over anything.’”
As their title suggests, the Historic Preservation Commission is a Town board charged with protecting historical Town assets such as this. With a little luck and a lot of land taking, Willson Park could be made into a decent-sized rotary, preserving the historic site while still facilitating easy traffic. If not, that section of land may have to be removed – or, to borrow Corey’s word, “obliterated.”
For more information on Willson Park options, click here.
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Is the purpose of eliminating the park to ease traffic? If so, is there any proof that will happen? Often changes are made to ease traffic flow, but the change does not improve the situation because there are other bottlenecks. The stop light light in the center of town, crosswalks, Mudge Way, Town Center and the Fire Station all contribute to the traffic problem. Then, when traveling the other way – from Rte. 62 headed toward Bedford Farms Ice Cream, is there a solution that will improve the crossing and merging of traffic there? In Belmont Center, under the train bridge there is an even worse intersection and recent changes to the roads did not make an attempt to fix the problem, because there was no good answer. People have learned to slow down and respect each other so they may all pass. Already that is what happens at Willson Park. I’d say leave Willson Park. Once it is gone, it is gone and it will likely give small or no gain from a traffic perspective.
I have to disagree that “people…slow down and respect each other so they may all pass.” Have you tried coming into Bedford from New England Nursery any time on a weekday between, say 4:30 and 5:30? It can easily take 20 minutes or more to get from the church to Wilson Park. The single-lane road doesn’t allow traffic that wants to continue into Bedford to pass cars trying to turn left toward Bedford Farms. It is a ridiculous bottleneck because people don’t “respect each other”.
You do understand that there was no Pole Capping in 1775 on this land, right ?