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Economic Development Commission
Minutes of Meeting— September 25, 2014
Minutes of Meeting — September 25, 2014
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, Hugh Gardner, Tom Davis, Sarah Cressy, Bill Sullivan
Others Present: Kerin Shea – Community & Economic Development Assistant, Chuck Randall
Members Not Present: Christopher Tibbals, Tony Loureiro, Michael DiBona, Matt Tucker
Hand-outs: Worcester Business Journal article on Governor’s visit, Parking Charrette flyer, Rite-Aid preliminary site plan, Larkin Lumber/136 Main St flyer
Town Updates
- Washington St/Rte 85 - The road project is complete. There may be some punch list items outstanding. There also may still be some concerns about the traffic lights & timing. The road will be under MassDOT control until the Town can vote on a discontinuance at the May 2015 Town Meeting. The Town & MassDOT are still waiting on dates from the Governor’s office for a possible ribbon cutting. The Governor’s office has made a push this year to highlight road projects that are good for economic development. Rte 85 is a prime example of this.
- Houghton St Bridge – The bridge is close to completion, with expectations to be complete next month. All utilities have been relocated & old utility poles removed. Two courses of paving are complete with the final top course to go. The temporary pedestrian bridge has been removed & the eastern sidewalk is open. There was an issue with the roadway elevation finishing higher than originally expected. This has resulted in the contractor having to do mitigation work to surrounding properties, such as leveling walkways & driveways. This should not impede the opening of the bridge. The bridge can be opened, even if there are punch list items to complete.
- Master Plan – The Master Plan is in its final editing phase. The final draft document was released to the public at a public forum on 6/26/14. Public comments were accepted through 7/31/14. VHB & Town staff are currently working on final formatting, inserting photos, maps, etc. The document is scheduled for adoption at the Planning Board meeting on 11/18/14.
- Liquor Licenses – The liquor license petitions have passed the Rules Committee, the House & are now in the Senate. If/when it passes the Senate, it will go to the Governor for final ratification. The petitions were held up by the ABCC, as, according to their rules, we still technically had one license available. Even though we approved the Dessert bar to proceed to the next phase in the liquor licensing permitting process, they had not sent in that application to the ABCC. We sent them our Board of Selectmen’s vote, but it didn’t matter. The Town’s licensing administrator met with the proprietors who agreed to move forward with the process. After that, everything went smoothly.
- Washington Street Bridge – The Washington Street bridge is still in its early design stage. The Houghton Street bridge will be open before these plans hit the 25% design milestone. As mentioned at the last meeting, Ms. Shea has heard that the designer has been having trouble with the utility phasing of the project. In order to keep one travel lane open, utilities would have to be relocated every time the lane construction switches, which would be three times. Everyone knows how long it takes for utilities to respond sometimes. There are also some issues with the right-of-way. We may lose the pedestrian foot bridge, as too much land would be needed for it, land that would severely impact the gas station & McDonald’s. MassDOT wants a project with the least amount of land takings &
the fastest construction. The single-lane-open approach may no longer be the shortest duration, & in fact may be the most painful. The design process will have a 25% design hearing, a large public forum for public comments. There is still much that needs to happen before actual construction starts: right-of-way takings & easements, permitting, environmental work, & many more reviews.
New Business
- Parking Study – The parking study is in full swing. The survey yielded nearly 750 responses, an excellent turnout. The results of that survey are still being tallied. There will be a two-day design charrette on October 8th & 9th. The days will be filled with a combination of informal drop-in sessions, formal presentations, activities, exercises & a walking tour. All members are urges to attend.
- Rite Aid - potential new location at 186 Main St - Rite Aid is proposing a new location at the old Hudson Catholic site. A pharmacy Downtown would bring good foot traffic & be good for the Esplanade residents next door. But there are concerns among the community about building set backs, traffic, lighting & appearance. The developers claim the grading of the site makes it impossible to move the building up to the sidewalk, like the rest of our Downtown. They will be removing 2 spaces on northerly side of Main St, adjacent to Manning St., in order to round out that corner. This will allow fire trucks & school busses to turn right, from Main to Manning. They will also be upgrading the traffic light at that intersection, as well as the light at South, Broad & Villa du Porto Blvd. This site has passed the Internal Traffic Committee & is now under site plan review by the Planning Board. Their next meeting is scheduled for 11/18/14.
- Highland Commons – Building continues at a rapid pace up at Highland Commons. Stores include: Lowes Home Improvement, BJ’s Wholesale, Market basket, TJ Maxx, Cabela’s Outdoor Store, Michael’s Craft Store, Petsmart, Ulta Beauty, Lane Bryant, Dress Barn & Famous Footwear. Michael’s has its grand opening scheduled for 10/19/14.
- Governor’s visit – Governor Patrick came to Hudson today with Lt. Governor candidate Steve Kerrigan, and State Rep. Kate Hogan to visit Rail Trail Flat Bread & their new endeavor, the dessert bar under construction across the street. It was great press for the proprietors & some great photos were taken of the Governor making pizzas.
- Hudson Lock – Hudson Lock acquired a new company in Chicago, a company that makes keyless-entry electronic locks. This will be a good addition for them & round out the goods they offer. But during the acquisition, they were faced with the dilemma of whether to bring the Chicago business here or to close Hudson Lock & move to Chicago. To entice them to stay, the Town & the Mass Office of Business Development actively worked with Hudson Lock to give them a tax Increment Finance agreement from the Town & supplemental Investment Tax credits from the State. The Town’s TIF agreement is a reduced taxation in the incremental value of a property after capital improvements are made for an increase in jobs. As Hudson Lock has plenty of space to relocate the new company, the upgrades are
interior in nature & will not affect the Town’s tax revenue significantly. But with the local TIF in place, Hudson Lock is eligible for significant State Investment Tax Credits. The Selectmen voted to support the TIF in principle on 8/4/14 & will sign the TIF Agreement after the TIF is approved at the November Town Meeting. Members are urges to attend Town Meeting & vote in support of this article.
- Bonazzoli Property - The Town is beginning the process of conducting surveys & appraisals. Quotes are being solicited for a MassDOT certified appraiser, with quotes due in tomorrow. The appraisal is due approximately the second week in November. Then we need to advertise for 30 days, hold the pre-bid site meeting & allow potential bidders to do their own due diligence. We hope to have bids due in December. It has not been determined if this will be a live auction or sealed bids. There are so many other things to consider as well: Conservation Commission action around the detention basin, MBTA action (if necessary), the Rte 85 discontinuance, discontinuance of the property (still currently under MassDOT control), etc.
- 19 - 21 Main St - As you know, Chloe’s American Bistro has closed. The building owner, Mr. Randall, present at this meeting, said he was close to signing the paperwork for a new restaurant, a gastro-pub. They will serve craft beers, including those made by Medusa Brewery down the street. Hopes were that they would close on everything next week. Local architect Glenn Davis has been working with the new owner. On a separate note, Harvest Café took over Chloe’s “$10 Burger and a Beer” bar special, on Wednesdays & Thursdays, from 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm.
- Property sales – Mr. Sullivan listed several properties that had sold recently.
- 49-57 Main Street (Salvation Army Building) - $265,000
- 136 Main St (Larkin Lumber, western half of property only. 13,000 SF building still for sale for $490,000, status of 3,800 SF front showroom unknown) - $425,000
- 321 Central St (Lance Corporation Building) - $2,125,000
- 19 Brent Drive (Chase-Walton Building, sold to Borg Design, formerly on Apsley Street) – $1,350,000
- 503 River Road (Frugal Flower Building) - $775,000
- 428 Main Street - 67,000 SF leased to Lindt chocolate packaging plant w/ 15,000 SF available
Minutes
Sarah Cressy, seconded by Bill Sullivan, made a motion to approve the minutes of March 10, 2014.
Vote: 5-0-0, unanimous
Adjournment
Don Garcia, seconded by Bill Sullivan, moved to adjourn at 8:40 pm.
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