New Planning Director Announced

September 2, 2016

By Eliza Rosenberry

Bedford's new Planning Director Tony Fields (l) with Assistant Planner Catherine Perry (c) and Town Manager Rick Reed (r) with members of the Planning Board at the August 30 meeting. Jeffrey Cohen and Shawn Hanegan (rear), Sandra Hackman and Amy Lloyd (middle) and Lisa Mustapich (front) - Image (c) JMcCT, 2016 all rights reserved
Bedford’s new Planning Director Tony Fields (l) with Assistant Planner Catherine Perry (c)  Town Manager Rick Reed (r) and members of the Planning Board: Jeffrey Cohen and Shawn Hanegan (rear), Sandra Hackman and Amy Lloyd (middle) and Lisa Mustapich (front) – Image (c) JMcCT, 2016 all rights reserved – Click to view larger image

Tony Fields will serve as the Town of Bedford’s new Planning Director beginning September 6, announced Town Manager Rick Reed at the August 30 Planning Board meeting.

Most recently, Fields worked for a year as an independent planning consultant in Burlington, Pepperell, Reading, and Wenham. He previously spent three years as Director of Planning in Billerica and more than 20 years in Burlington’s planning office.

Fields joked that due to his even temperament, the Board members likely couldn’t detect how excited he was to start work in Bedford. “But I am excited,” he assured them.

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“Tony brings decades of planning experience from his role as the Planning Director in Burlington, Billerica, and other communities,” Planning Board Chair Jeff Cohen told The Citizen. “The Board is looking forward to working with him.”

The selection process was managed by Reed’s office. Both Cohen and Board member Amy Lloyd served on the selection panel, alongside town representatives and an independent panel of representatives from nearby towns.

“I am pleased to have Mr. Fields joining the Town’s staff,” said Reed in a statement to The Citizen. “His 25 years working as a municipal professional planner in Massachusetts and his knowledge of the immediate areas surrounding Bedford will be a significant benefit to Bedford.”

A graduate of the University of Maine, Fields has a bachelor’s degree in Wildlife Management, as well as a master’s in Geography and Regional Planning from Central Connecticut State University.

“I like the opportunity to stay involved in Middlesex 3,” Fields told the Board, a project with which he has been involved for decades. He observed that throughtraffic and managing the “eclectic” mix of uses along Great Road are some of the primary planning issues facing Bedford today.

Reed and the Board also commended the work of Assistant Planner Catherine Perry, who served as Bedford’s Interim Planning Director this summer.

The announcement follows the June resignation of Glenn Garber, who was Bedford’s Planning Director for five years and oversaw a period of unusually high development in the town.

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