Economic Development Committee Minutes 05.13.21

The meeting was called to order at 6:05. The COVID statement was read. Present were Scott McCaskill (chair), Matt Monahan (CNHRPC), Stan Ovrevik, Mel Pfeifle, and Laurie Colburn.

We discussed the ERZ applications, and the suggestion was made to forward them to the Planning Board for additional review. A vote was taken to approve forwarding the applications to the Select Board for action; all present voted in favor.

The “road map” flowchart, showing how a proposed development moves through the Planning Board, was discussed. It appears that the PB has this well in hand now.

The progress on a trail map was discussed. The EDC has made little progress so far. It was suggested that Scott contact Michele Halsted to see whether the Rural Heritage Commission would want to pick up this work, and to add sites of historic interest to the map. Scott mentioned that he had talked with Ann Eldridge, who expressed concerns that many of the trails are on private land, and may need  the owner’s permission for more than occasional use, and that there may also be issues with parking near trail heads. Laurie suggested that the map contain a per-trail matrix showing the permitted uses for each trail.

We discussed the Business Directory. Scott has been making some progress on this, pulling listings from older publications and from the Bridge and the Shopper. A notice has appeared in the Bridge asking businesses to email in their information, but has had few responses.

We had a productive discussion on the “Marketing Story” for Bradford. Stan and several others noted how Bradford used to be a destination for both Vaudeville and Silent Era film stars. The idea of having short snippets of history in the Bridge was brought up; Laurie will try to follow up on this. We may want to engage the Historical Society to help with this.

The meeting adjourned shortly after 7:00.


Submitted by S. McCaskill