Sarah Dixon, director of community development, presented the Town of Norwood’s comprehensive/master plan update and asked the Historical Commission to prioritize preservation strategies that will inform the town’s 10‑year plan.

Dixon described the project as the town’s first comprehensive plan in about 30 years and said public engagement has produced nearly 1,900 participation points so far; the steering committee has set a goal of 3,000 participation touches. "We have nearly 2,000 participation points with people in the public so far," Dixon told commissioners, and she outlined a two‑phase process of an existing‑conditions review followed by a public‑engagement and strategy phase.

The commission reviewed a strategy list and provided consistent feedback on several priority areas:

- Downtown design guidelines: Commissioners supported updating downtown design guidelines to encourage adaptive reuse while preserving exterior character. Several members favored creating clear boundaries for the downtown district and exploring a design‑advisory mechanism to encourage cohesive materials and façades.

- Incentives for adaptive reuse: Dixon proposed both zoning bonuses and modest tax relief; commissioners generally favored modest, administrable tax relief tied to preserving exteriors rather than broad bonuses that could encourage large new developments.

- Public landmarks and Morse House: Members reiterated support for continued protection and reuse of municipally owned landmarks (bandstand, town hall, Morse House) and urged prioritizing funding and protective measures for the Morse House.

- Archival inventory and storage: Commissioners strongly supported launching a town‑wide archival inventory to catalog and digitize documents and photos; multiple speakers noted the Norwood Historical Society is running out of storage space and suggested Morse House second‑floor storage as a town resource.

- Programming and interpretation: Self‑guided walking tours, interpretive signage with QR content, and partnerships with the historical society and library were broadly welcomed, though commissioners emphasized volunteer capacity and recommended partnering with the cultural council and other groups.

- Zoning and residential design guidelines: Dixon proposed revisiting downtown mixed‑use zoning and exploring residential design guidelines to reduce tear‑down replacement of smaller historic homes; commissioners discussed zoning constraints, enforcement, and the need to consult property owners and stakeholders before regulatory changes.

Dixon stressed that including ideas in the comp plan does not mandate immediate action; zoning, capital projects, and other items would still require separate board processes, public hearings and town‑meeting approval. She said staff would incorporate the commission’s feedback into the draft and invited continued comments by email.

Next steps: staff will revise the strategy list using the commission’s prioritization and return with updated draft language for further comment and for eventual public review.