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Economic Development Commission
DRAFT ~ Minutes of Meeting— May 19, 2015 ~DRAFT
Minutes of Meeting — May 19, 2015
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, Mike DiBona
Others Present: Kerin Shea – Community & Economic Development Assistant, Chuck Randall
Members Not Present: Christopher Tibbals, Matt Tucker
Hand-outs: EDC Annual Report, Letter from Community Development Director to Benderson Development (EDC Chairman cc’ed)
Annual Report
The annual Report was submitted to the Executive Assistant’s office back in March. Mr. Garcia reviewed & approved it beforehand. It has been published in this year’s Town Report book & was handed out at Town Meeting on May 4. Mr. Garcia thanked Ms. Shea for writing the report. No members had any comments or questions.
Old Business
Back in 2013, when Highland Commons was petitioning for additional liquor licenses, the Town worked extensively on this home rule petition, resulting in 5 site-specific licenses. As part of our negotiations, Benderson Development agreed to donate $5,000 toward a Hudson restaurant marketing program. The Town is in receipt of these funds. First, this donation needs to be accepted by the Board is Selectmen. These funds can be combined with the $3,500 advertising funds appropriated during the FY15 EDC budget.
New Business
- Intel – Anne Hurd from Intel spoke at the Selectmen’s Meeting of April 27th, 2015. She announced Intel’s intentions to demolish the Fab2 manufacturing plant. This will be a two-year process as Intel removed equipment & chemicals from the building. Demolition is expected to begin in 2017.
- Downtown Closings – The EDC was sad to hear that Harvest Café closed. The business was sold to a gentleman from Sterling who has owned several restaurants/catering companies over the years. He has plans to renovate & expand the kitchen. Perfectly Polished on Main Street closed as did the Pink Catahoula, located in the Broad Street Mill.
- Downtown Openings – New City Creamery opened this week selling ice cream & drinks. Their next phase will be incorporating desserts and finally the dessert bar. It has been said that the bar will be a speak-easy concept, where a patron has to say a password or something to enter via a special entrance. There is no entrance to the bar area from the street. This speak-easy concept is trendy right now. B. Barton & Company Antiques opened at 87 Main Street on May 15th, & the Creative Underground Art & Gifts opened at the 43 Broad Street Mill on May 16th. They opened in the space vacated by the Pink Catahoula. Reliant Urgent Medial Care opened at 234 Washington Street May 19th. Furniture & More moved from the Broad Street Mill to 312 Main
Street.
- Downtown Parking – A warrant article was passed at the May 2015 Town Meeting. Fifteen thousand dollars was appropriated for line striping & additional signage. The CD Department will work with DPW on where to implement these initial recommendations from the parking study. It is estimated that another 65 spaces or so can be gained with additional striping.
- Town Hall Reorganization – The Community Development Office will be undergoing some major changes. Michelle Ciccolo, CD Director, will be retiring from Hudson on May 29th. She is starting her own company doing Smart Growth real estate development & municipal consulting. Jennifer Burke, Planning Director, is also leaving on May 22nd. She has taken another position in Hopkinton. Ms. Shea said that she will also be leaving at the end of the summer and that this was her last EDC meeting. She will be going to work for Ms. Ciccolo. She will be part time in Hudson, three days per week throughout the summer, to help with the transition. Tom Moses, the Executive Assistant, is going to combine the Planning & CD Departments. The new Planning & Community
Development Director will be hiring two additional staff. He/she will be able to craft those job descriptions, based on his/her strengths & weaknesses, and what direction he/she sees the department going. Mr. Garcia thanked Ms. Shea for her work with the Commission over the years. He would like to set up a meeting with Mr. Moses sometime between now & the next EDC meeting in September and will revisit the reorganization at the September meeting.
- Other – Ms. Cressy noted that the LaPointe-Hudson Broach building at 569 Main Street is for sale, as is the Affordable Interior Systems and Encore Party Rental buildings on Cherry Street. Ms. Shea noted that there was some interest from U-Haul on the AIS building, with specific outreach to the Town, but nothing has come of it since our initial talks. Mr. Randall noted that renovations resumed at Crossroads Tap & Table (former Chloe’s Bistro). Ms. Shea also noted the resignation of Lynne Johnson from the Arts Alliance at the end of the year.
- Vacancy – There is still a vacancy on the EDC Board. (Mr. Loureiro moved out of Town & is unable to serve.) The vacancy is posted on the Town website & an invite was extended to a gentleman with a previous interest card on file. He was invited to the last EDC meeting but never showed up, and has not been heard from since. Mr. Garcia asked Mr. Randall to fill out an interest card if he would like to be an official member.
Minutes
Don Garcia, seconded by Mike DiBona, made a motion to approve the minutes of September 25, 2014.
Vote: 6-0-0, unanimous
Adjournment
Don Garcia, seconded by Bill Sullivan, moved to adjourn at 8:54 PM.
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