South Road Assisted Living Facility Comes Before the Planning Board

The Planning Board heard a proposal for an assisted living facility at 240 and 244 South Road from LCB Senior Living on Tuesday, October 27.

It was the first public presentation for the proposal.

The proposed facility would occupy two plots of land, one that is currently a single residential unit and the other has been home to the Iovino Excavating site, zoned Industrial A. Lee Bloom, LCB’s director of development, said the firm would prefer a special permit allowing construction of the facility rather than rezoning the land itself. Rezoning requires a town meeting majority of at least two-thirds.

The proposal includes 92 residences, composed of 66 assisted living apartments and 26 memory-care apartments. It also includes 50 parking spaces and green space. The plan also shows a connection to the Minuteman Bikeway through a rear patio, something that members of the Planning Board were pleased to hear. Structures currently in place would be demolished.

Planning Board member Shawn Hanegan raised concerns about hazardous waste on the Iovino site. Before its current use, the lot was the site of a foundry. The LCB official said that after extensive testing, it has been confirmed that the soil and water at the site are clean.

Full site plans and financial plans have not been completed, though LCB and its lawyer, Pam Brown, said they expect to have those available by the Planning Board’s next meeting on November 10. LCB plans to conduct community outreach through mailers, zoom meetings, and face-to-face meetings at the site.

Bloom mentioned that the facility will likely be further in from South Road than it appears in the current plan. He also expressed the possibility of building a public boardwalk through the conservation wetland adjacent to Evergreen Avenue that would connect to the rail trail.

LCB has similar facilities throughout the Northeast, including five others in Massachusetts and one in Connecticut. In each, roughly 35 percent of its occupants are from the host town itself, the officials said. Bloom noted that the pricing model used by LCB is different from that of Bedford’s Carleton-Willard Village, the town’s only current assisted living community. The LCB proposal uses a purely rental model.

Besides the living space, fees cover utilities, three meals a day, on-site healthcare, and maintenance. LCB’s facilities also include amenities such as libraries, theaters, and salons.

Planning Board member Jeff Cohen noted, “There is a need for facilities like this in Bedford.” Bloom said he expects the facility to have a positive effect on the town. “If we’re not a good neighbor, we’ve failed.”