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Economic Dev Comm Minutes 9/20/11
Economic Development Commission

Minutes of Meeting— September 20, 2011



The Hudson Economic Development Commission met at the Hudson Town Hall, 78 Main Street.  At 7:30 p.m., Chairman Donald Garcia called the meeting to order.

Members Present:  Donald Garcia, William Sullivan, Hugh Gardner, Christopher Tibbals, Sarah Cressy
Others Present: Michael DiBona, Robert Taft, Kerin Shea – Community & Economic Development Assistant
Members Not Present:  Tom Davis, Tony Loureiro


EDC Vacancies


The Board noted the resignation of Sonny Parente.  We now have 2 vacancies.  Two potential candidates sat in on the meeting in a non-voting capacity:  Mr. DiBona & Mr. Taft.  Their Board Interest Cards & resumes are on file & were present for members’ review.  There may be a potential third candidate, Mr. Andrew Daugherty, who was unable to attend the meeting.  Mr. Garcia suggested that the Board wait until all Interest Cards were in to make a final decision.  Although there are 2 voting seats available, the third candidate could be an associate member.

Mr. Gardner noted he has been on the Board for 35 years.  Ms. Cressy also wanted to share that the Chamber of Commerce would be celebrating its 25th Anniversary in December.


Update on Various Town Projects

Ms. Shea updated the EDC on some of the projects going on Hudson:

* Washington St/Rte 85 Reconstruction Project & Bonazzoli –  All of the pieces have finally fallen into place & the project has been officially advertised as of 9/17/11.  Bids are due in to MassDOT by 12/20/11.  Construction should be gin in the spring, with the winning contractor choosing at which end he will begin.  The

Town has competed the takings for the actual widening & has since purchased the remainder of the Bonazzoli parcel.  MassDOT has agreed to act as the relocation specialist for the Town, to assist tenants finding suitable locations & with actual moving.  The Town also has a site remediation grant from MassDevelopment to clean up the site.  A contract with Tetra Tech is in place.  Remediation probably will not begin until the building is demolished by the contractor.

Mr. Tibbals was concerned how this project will affect the businesses Downtown, especially those in proximity to the Rotary.  He did not want to see another mess

like the Broad Street Bridge.  Ms. Shea explained that the project limits ended before the Washington Street Bridge.  The Washington Street bridge is a separate but current project that the Town is working on with MassDOT.  Only at the 25% design stage, the bridge will be widened to three lanes to accommodate queuing and stacking from the Rotary.  This bridge will not be allowed to begin construction until the Houghton Street Bridge is completed.  The Washington Street Bridge is also a potential “rapid construction” project, meaning that the bridge construction phase, once commenced, would proceed as rapidly as possible, with a limited temporary bridge closure that would facilitate a far shorter start-to-finish construction cycle for the overall project.  This may include concurrent phasing, longer time in the street & round the clock shifts.  Also, any bridge closure would not be done during the school year, due to the bridge’s proximity to Hudson High School.  Expediting construction minimizes disruption and reduces any negative economic impacts, as it is crucial to the wellbeing of the small retailers located in our downtown.  This type of project will also get some media coverage for Hudson.  


* Houghton Street Bridge – The Town has completed all Right-of-Way & was issued its certificate on 7/19/11.  The project was advertised on 9/10/11, with bids due in to MassDOT on 12/6/11.  Construction should begin in the spring.


* Parking Study – The Town did not win the CDBG grant this year.  Part of the application included a parking & traffic infrastructure study.  The Town has agreed to pay for half of the study, with Hudson Business Association agreeing to pay for the other half. This appropriation must go through Town Meeting approval & will be on the Warrant in November.  Ms. Cressy was concerned that the Town had done many parking studies before & what would the benefit be of another one?  Ms. Shea and Mr. Garcia explained that this study is extremely comprehensive.  It would contain a full build-out analysis.  How much parking would be needed if every storefront & upper office space were fully utilized?  Would the Town be better off with a parking garage?  If so, where?  Or should we have smaller surface lots?  Where & how many?  Should the Town have angled parking & convert Main Street and South Street to one way?  Although there has been talk about tearing down the Salvation Army building to put in leveled parking, does the Town want to lose prime retail space in the center of Main Street?  

Ms. Shea also reminded the Board that the Rotary is failing & that the Town has funds set aside      to reconstruct it.  But to fully reconstruct the Rotary with safer two-lane approaches, we would      lose 30 parking spaces around the Rotary.  This is not acceptable until we find replacement for        those spaces.


* Master Plan – The Town is beginning its Mater Plan Process.  Overseen by the Planning Board, the EDC most likely will be required to nominate a member or individual with Economic Development interests to serve on some sort of steering committee.  Once they are finalized, details will be forthcoming.



Old Business

  • EDC Newsletter – Ms. Shea distributed hardcopies of the EDC Newsletter.  It was well received.  But the question was raised, what do we do with it now?  It was decided to distribute a dozen each to the Town Hall lobby, Library, Chamber of Commerce, Hudson Business Association & the Rotary Club.  A .pdf would be sent to the Chamber as well.  This item has been closed until next year.

  • EDC Website -  The re-creation of a website of available properties in Hudson had been brought up at the February 2011 EDC meeting.  This listing had been maintained by the EDC in the past, but had been discontinued.  Lack of submissions from realtors made the listing incomplete, while a lack of updates made the listing grow stale & out of date.  Members asked who would use this site?  Mr. Sullivan said that so many properties list online now, that anyone looking for space over 1,000 would hit major sites such as Co-Star or even You Tube.  Ms. Cressy said that she has the same problem with listings going stale on the Chamber’s website, and that she gets mostly smaller listings, under 1,000 SF.  With a general consensus that such a service would be redundant, the Board chose not to take any further action on this matter & it has been closed.
  • Advertising - The discussion continues the EDC’s current ad in the New England Real Estate Journal.  Mr. Sullivan reiterated that anyone looking for property reads the Banker & Tradesman.  But would it do any good for the EDC to switch our ad to that publication?  Even property listings do better on the internet.
Sarah Cressy, seconded by Bill Sullivan, made a motion to discontinue the EDC ad in the NERJ.  

Vote: 5-0-0, unanimous

  • Business Development Seminar - In years past, the Chamber of Commerce would run an informative business event co-sponsored by the EDC.  Ms. Cressy is still in the process of researching some sort of Business Development Seminar.  It would be best to hold it in early to mid spring 2012.  Perhaps get someone from MassDevelopment and/or the Small Business Development Center?  Mr. Garcia brought up perhaps getting State Treasurer & Receiver General Steve Grossman.  Mr. Garcia met with him and discussed  a new program where the State gives banks up to 5 million dollars to loan to small businesses at incredibly low interest.  He also reiterated one of the jobs of the EDC:  to connect small businesses with government in order to accomplish set goals.  This topic will be continued at the next meeting.


New Business

  • Highland Commons vs. Northborough Crossing – Mr. Tibbals brought up the fact that Northborough Crossing was filling up with retail tenants while Highland Commons still had no other tenants signed other than Lowes & BJ’s.  Why?  Ms. Cressy brought up that Northborough had a flat tax rate.  Mr. Sullivan noted that Northborough was completely sold out.  But, he also noted that there was a lot of “cannibalism” going on, meaning that most stores are not new openings.  They are closing locations along Route 9 & re-opening in Northborough Crossing.  The positive growth is actually pretty small.  
  • Cabot Woods Estates –  The Town has been approached a developer looking to do a large 40B apartment complex on the 2 parcels of land on Cabot Rd (just behind Walgreens & next to Walmart).  The complex would include four 4-story buildings, 176 units, plus a 2,000 SF clubhouse.  The Town is opposed to this development because the land is some of the last available open commercial/industrial land in Hudson.  There are 2 office parks on the road & such a residential development is not conducive to business development.  Lastly, the project could cause significant traffic/infrastructure problems.  Mr. Garcia spoke for the Board in saying that if the Town needed another letter against the project, they would be happy to write one.

  • Board of Selectmen -  Mr. Garcia said that each Board would be assigned a Selectman as a liaison to that Board.  The liaison to the EDC is Jim Vereault.




Minutes

Don Garcia, seconded by Hugh Gardner, made a motion to approve the minutes of February 15, 2011 as written.

Vote: 5-0-0, unanimous


Adjournment

Don Garcia, seconded by Bill Sullivan, moved to adjourn at 9:15 PM.