Erin Wortman, Stoneham Town Planner, has unveiled Stoneham’s first “How-to-Do-Business-in-Stoneham” guide, a comprehensive document for investigating, opening or altering a business - in only 17 pages.
“I’m very proud of this document”, notes Wortman. “We have spent as much time on structuring this guide to be intuitive and easy to use, as we have on amassing the relevant information that business people need. Right up front is a 9-step “Checklist for Opening a Business” – an executive summary of the entire process at a glance. This guide is a single source for you if you are wanting to open a restaurant, replace a business sign, tear down a building and build a new one, find out about trash and snow removal schedules, and everything in between. It’s all covered.”
Wortman gives much credit to the knowledgeable professionals that work at Town Hall and their willingness to truly help business people accomplish their objectives. The “Guide” is available in a color print version in the Town Clerk and Building Department offices, two places business people are likely to head to first. The guide is also available online on the Town Planner’s webpage at www.stoneham-ma.gov/town-planner .
The “Guide”, created in collaboration with the Stoneham Chamber’s Merchants Group, is one of several recent Stoneham planning initiatives, and has not gone unnoticed outside the community. Stoneham is part of the nine-community sub-region of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council. Amanda Chisholm, Chief Economic Development Planner for MAPC, and sub-region coordinator applauds this accomplishment among other efforts in the ongoing work to implement the recommendations of the Stoneham Strategic Action Plan, a significant planning effort undertaken with the MAPC in 2014. Chisholm notes, “The ‘How-to-Do-Business-in-Stoneham’ guide is an important tool to assist small businesses in navigating the Town of Stoneham’s business permitting processes. The document will send a strong signal that the community is interested in attracting additional businesses, particularly to their downtown area.”