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Economic Development Commission
Minutes of Meeting— April 17, 2012
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, Christopher Tibbals, Sarah Cressy, Hugh Gardner, Tom Davis, Michael DiBona, Matt Tucker
Others Present: Kerin Shea – Community & Economic Development Assistant
Members Not Present: Tony Loureiro
Rte 85 Public Forum
For this year’s Economic Development event, the EDC is sponsoring a public information session on the Rte 85 construction project, on April 30th at 7:00 PM, in the Town Hall auditorium. A representative from MassDOT will be present, as will the Police Chief, Fire Chief, DPW Director, Planning Director and Community Development Director. It was unclear if the Building Inspector needed to be present for signage relocation issues. Citizens will have time to view maps & visuals for the first 10-15 minutes, before the presentation starts. Mr. Garcia will open the meeting, then turn it over to Michelle Ciccolo & the DOT rep for the presentation. They will give an overview of the project, as well as update residents on the Houghton St. Bridge & Washington St. Bridge. Then they will
open the discussion for Q & A. Ms. Cressy suggested having cable access film the hearing and to also note an end time of 9:00 PM.
Ms. Shea mailed flyers to every property owner along Rte 85, from the Washington St Bridge to the Marlboro town line. She also mailed flyers to every individual business, as many property owners are located out of town and sometimes out of state. Mr. DiBona & Mr. Tucker both took flyers to hang up around town. Ms. Cressy emailed the flyer to her business contacts, & posted it on both the Chamber’s webpage & Facebook page. The flyer has also been posted on the Town’s webpage & notices were sent to all press outlets.
Annual Report
Members were presented with this year’s EDC annual report. Members seemed pleased with the report & had no other questions or issues. The report is free to all residents & will be distributed at the May Town Meeting. It will also be available in Town Hall.
Cabot Ridge
Members were updated on a potential 40B housing development located on 2 parcels of commercial/industrial land on Cabot Rd. These parcels are two of the last sizeable pieces of commercially & industrially zoned land available in town. The land is located in an office park, in close proximity to Intel & has direct access to routes 495 & 290. A letter from the EDC in support of affordable housing, but opposing this specific site location was sent to the State Comprehensive Permit Office. The Town has since had a meeting with representatives of MasssHousing, the Comprehensive Permit Program, & the Government Affairs office. Attending for the Town were Paul Blazar, Michelle Ciccolo, Jennifer Burke, & Jim Vereault. Kate Hogan was also in attendance. The Town is still waiting to see
if the site will be approved by MassHousing. If it is eventually approved, there is nothing the Town can do. Mr. Davis wondered if there were an Affordable Housing Committee with set regulations for 40B’s, the Town could stop this site selection.
Old Business
- Master Plan – The Master Plan Steering Committee, of which Mr. Garcia is a member, has made its final consultant selection. The Steering Committee will recommend VHB, Inc. to the Board of Selectmen at their next meeting on April 23rd. Once the planning process and data collection are underway, the Town will be holding meetings on individual “chapters” (housing, transportation, economic development, etc.), with mapping exercises and other forms of public input. EDC members are urged to participate in the Economic Development public forum.
New Business
- Ms. Cressy brought up some concern regarding the loss of parking spaces around the Rotary. She has been approached by several people who have seen concept plans drawn up detailing the elimination of paring. Ms. Shea explained that someday, eventually, the rotary will need to be upgraded to a modern round-a-bout for it to function properly & more importantly - safely. The concept plans were drawn up by Highland Commons, who also contributed funds to upgrade the rotary to mitigate additional traffic caused by the site. But the Town will never upgrade the rotary until those lost parking spaces can be relocated elsewhere and until funding is obtained for the relocation, whether that be a garage, single deck or series of smaller surface lots. This issue is one that would be studied in the parking study. The Town
appropriated half of the funding for the parking study at the November 2011 Town Meeting. The other half is to be funded by the Hudson Business Association.
- Ms. Cressy also noted the closing of Networks Unlimited, located at 1 Lincoln St, across from the Fire Station.
- Mr. Garcia noted the demolition of the Bonazzoli building, located at 173 Washington St. This is the start of the Washington St/Rte 85 construction.
- Ms. Shea said that the town had been approached by Washco to relocate their sign on what Washco thought was Town property. But paper streets on Assessor’s maps have not officially been accepted as streets by the Board of Selectmen, therefore they are most likely owned to the center of the street by the abutters. Ms. Shea also noted that many business owners will be facing hardship when having to relocate their signs due to the Rte 85 construction, as many will need a variance for relocation. The Town Planner and Building Inspector are putting together a package to hand out to any business owner who comes in.
- Ms. Cressy asked if there was any confirmation that a Kohl’s Department Store was going into Highland Commons. Ms. Shea responded that nothing had been filed with Town Hall, nor has the Town heard anything about any such filings in Berlin. She did confirm, however, that a Market Basket was going in. Mr. Sullivan said that this was a great boon for the development & that the rest of the available spaces should fill up quickly as a result.
- Mr. Garcia suggested that we reschedule the next meeting from May to June. Ms. Shea will check the availability of the conference room & send out a new date.
Minutes
Sarah Cressy, seconded by Chris Tibbals, made a motion to approve the minutes of November 15, 2011 as amended.
Vote: 8-0-0, unanimous
Adjournment
Don Garcia, seconded by Matt Tucker, moved to adjourn at 8:45 PM.
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