Bedford’s Proposed Zoning Amendments and Loving Our Neighbors
Throughout our 275-year history, Bedford Presbyterian Church has sought to live out the greatest commandments of Jesus: To love God with our whole selves and to love our neighbors as ourselves. In John’s Gospel, Jesus encourages his disciples to love one another as Jesus loves them.
For decades, out of love for our neighbors, members of our church have been helping those who have endured natural disasters and poverty repair and remain in their homes.
Today, as a Matthew 25 congregation of the Presbyterian Church (USA), having witnessed so many housing struggles, BPC has embarked on an additional journey to explore how we can address the underlying reasons why people cannot find a place to live.
Here in New Hampshire and in Bedford, there is a severe shortage of housing, and especially, affordable housing. Our own congregation is feeling the pinch. We’ve heard from older members who would like to downsize but have nowhere to go. Some of our members who raised families here–would like their children to move back to Bedford, but they cannot find anything affordable. Some of our members would like their out-of-town parents to relocate to Bedford, but there is nothing available in their price range. Our community of teachers, firefighters, healthcare, daycare, and retail workers who rely on proximity to their workplace are competing for the same property with Bedford’s long-time residents and retirees who are looking to downsize from their larger homes, but there’s no place to go. As a church, the question we have asked ourselves in the face of such a large and complicated issue is, “What can we do to love our neighbors?”
BPC is committed to putting our faith into action by seeking to – among other things – care for “the least of these” by advocating for changes to detrimental systems and structures so that we can seek the wholeness of our communities.
In working with Bedford’s Planning Department starting this fall, we learned that certain zoning laws were standing in the way of the development of smaller and more affordable housing types. We also learned that 95% of Bedford is already built out, so there is limited opportunity for new housing. The proposed zoning amendments will make it easier and more attractive for developers to build much-needed smaller and more affordable housing types when suitable land becomes available, primarily in the Route 3 corridor. The proposed changes are coming up for a vote on March 11.
We encourage members of our congregation who live in Bedford to educate yourselves about this opportunity to love our neighbors – and our potential neighbors – by helping to provide affordable places for them to live, whether they are downsizing from a larger home, buying a home for the first time, or simply seeking to live in and contribute to the Town of Bedford.