Waiting and Seeing can be a Good Thing

by Len Lathrop
January 27, 2006

John Greenleaf Whittier reminds us with a quote in “Maud Muller” which could begin or end this dueling editorial. Growth has come to Hudson, my thoughts, not his. As I transgress, please remember the following, no, not the quote, but that’s important, too: 1) Traffic throughout Hudson is very heavy and the Nashua Regional Planning Committee’s “Hudson Master Plan” calls for a major increase in the next years from both the widening of Route 3 and just general growth in southern New Hampshire. Almost everyone, including me, knows that a third bridge across the Merrimack River is needed. 2) There is going to be development at the Green Meadow Golf Course whose magnitude can only be judged by some very initial plans presented by SR Development at three meetings to date with elected selectmen, town staff, and residents. 3) In the late 1950s, the Circumferential Highway project was proposed to begin at Exit 2 in Nashua, making a loop northeastward to Route 111 in Hudson, then northwestward to a new Exit 9 in Merrimack.

When we add #1 plus #2 plus #3 we equal a whole lot of different ideas and plans on how to marry/manage everything. We need the bridge in Litchfield; It has to be built. DOT Commissioner Carol Murray has proposed to sell the Circumferential Highway land in Hudson, Litchfield and Londonderry to help pay for the bridge. A great plan until the Green Meadow project came onto the public horizon several months ago. What increase in traffic will the Green Meadow project cause through Hudson not just in the south end but to routes 111, 102, and 3A? Every road in Hudson will be affected.

Selectmen Maddox has presented an idea where we (the collective WE) use the land of the Circumferential Highway and build a road from Route 111 prior to Hudson Center to bring shoppers to the Green Meadow project, maybe it could connect directly onto the Exit 2, Sagamore bridge interchange and then into the Green Meadow Project. That would help traffic on Lowell Road and Route 111. At Tuesday night’s meeting of Hudson Selectmen Rick Maddox reported on a meeting at the state level to set up a meeting for the Green Meadow developers to present their ideas to the New Hampshire Department of Transportation. In conversation about the scope of the development the builder spoke of 40,000 cars per day with 70 percent using the bridge interchange. That leaves 12,000 cars on the town roads. Our Senator, Bob Clegg, with Representatives Renzullo and Bulhman support the state’s plan to build by selling Circumferential Highway land.

Confused yet? The questions just keep jumping out of this editorial. Maybe it’s time to get back to the quote of Mr. Whittier. “For of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these: “It might have been!” Before I give you my opinion, here are a few unrelated “It-might-have-been” questions: 1) If the town hadn’t been outbid by the builder by just $500, what would the Shepard Hill Development be today? 2) If the Friary on Lowell Road didn’t fail to be purchased by 79 votes, what would Executive Drive and the yet-to-be developed lots on Lowell Road look like? Sorry, just some questions from the past. Now back to my opinion on whether to sell or not to sell.

What would be the problem with just waiting at least until we know what the Green Meadow project will look like and more questions have been answered. Selling the Circumferential land - some 335 areas in Hudson tax valued at $4.1 million (tax deferred as state property) - at five times the value would yield $22 million. The third bridge is projected to cost $50 – 60 million, a lot of funds from tolls. I’m sure I, at this writing, don’t have all the information or even the questions. Land is a finite resource, especially in a growing town like Hudson with many projects on the horizon.

While trying to see what the direction is – waiting is where I stand.

You Have to Walk Before You Run

by Robin Rodgers
January 27, 2006

The wheels of progress sometimes turn very slowly, and sometimes they simply stop turning. For as long as I can remember, there has been talk of a circumferential highway that would go through Hudson. After over 40 years of listening to this promise, I give up. The state simply is not talking about it anymore. It may still be on the 10-year plan at the Nashua Regional Planning Commission, but there is no funding lined up for it. Therefore, it would seem that there is no interest in going forward.

However, Hudson does need the bridge that was part of this original proposal. The traffic on Derry Road (Route 102) each day is a frustrating unnecessary evil that could be alleviated with a bridge in Litchfield that crosses to Merrimack. I do not think anyone is questioning this fact, at least I hope not. The objection of some is how to fund said bridge.

In this time of “all-or-nothing” thinking, some would say wait until we can have the whole deal. The whole deal, in my mind, would be to connect Route 102 to the Everett Turnpike in Merrimack exiting onto route 3A in Litchfield and Daniel Webster Highway in Merrimack. Nevertheless, that dream is probably a long way off - if ever - if we choose to “wait.” The state is talking about selling land here in Hudson and using the money to help fund the bridge. Although no actual numbers have been given out, one could estimate that a bridge could cost upwards of $50 million. The state-owned land in Hudson could possibly generate $20 million on a good day. Twenty million real dollars in the state’s hand is a whole lot more convincing than we “really” want this bridge; more convincing than promises of tollbooths or gas taxes or even higher cigarette taxes or any other formula those opposed to selling the land could generate.

“Let’s wait” (for how long?) is not going to solve the problem that we face today. By selling the state land (even if it is to the town) and making a real statement to the state is the only way we will get this bridge. It is said that the “squeaky wheel gets the grease,” but, if our state representatives are not on the same page doing the “squeaking,” we don’t really stand much of a chance of crossing that bridge.

A City Within Our Town Will Impact Us All

by Len Lathrop, Robin Rodgers
December 16, 2005

What happens when you have 14 residents, 10 board members, one town of Hudson staff member, two newspaper reporters, three cable guys, one NRPC staff member, three lawyers, three developers, and three Friel family members all in one room together?

Well, I guess I have given it away. But, if not, this event occurred Wednesday, December 7 at the Hudson Community Center, on the new basketball floor. The time was about 7:45 p.m. Still need more information? After the first presentation to Hudson selectmen, it was announced it was part of the story in your Hudson~Litchfield News and also in the daily newspaper.

Yes, you have guessed it right; it was the second presentation about the Life Style Center which is planned for the Green Meadow Golf Course.

My business partner, with whom I had the dueling editorial last week, smiled when she asked how many people were there. Well, you know from the opening sentence, the answer is 14 residents. Maybe she was right about it being a good thing for Hudson.

Even if you consider this development “good,” that doesn’t mean that it will not have an impact on all of us: our community, its infrastructure and the time it will take you to get to almost everywhere. Hudson Town Planner John Cashall calls it a city that is being built in our town. The design architect from S. R. Weiner, the developer, mentioned that this is the single biggest project (development) in New England in the last ten years and possibly for the next ten.

The other strange thing that happened during that meeting was that the 14 residents were allowed to ask questions. Not like the meeting with selectmen. Two other things that, in my opinion, are different with this project and how the planning board operates, the planning chairman called it an information meeting, something I have never seen the planning board do in the past. The developer stated that they (the developer) should have a regular, maybe monthly meeting, with the planning board as more plans are refined for this project and it impacts on the town of Hudson. The planning chair spoke of taking their workshop meeting as early as January 4 for that meeting.

How is Hudson going to handle this development? An attempt by the selectmen to put $50,000 in the 2007 budget, which begins July 2006, to hire a traffic consultant who has experience with this large-scale project seemed appropriate. However, the Budget Committee cut it out. Then, Tuesday night the Selectmen apparently renewed their vision for the need for this consultant and voted to put an additional $100,000 in their 07 budget for that need. Therefore, if the Budget Committee cuts it again, maybe the more farsighted can prevail at the Deliberative Session to add it back to the budget. All the advice that the town can get will be needed.

Whether you like or dislike this project, it is going to change most of Hudson, not just the south end. You can’t build a city in a town without some disturbance. These developers need to hear your concerns.

Citizens need to express their concerns at any meeting that might occur in the planning process. Written questions can be submitted to the town planner by December 21 who will pass them along to the developer and the Hudson Planning Board.

by Robin Rodgers
December 9, 2005

Hudson is being faced with a most amazing opportunity for the future.

The Friel family should be commended for seeking out the best of all worlds when they decided to sell their property to S.R. Weiner W/S Development. Currently, this 375 acres of waterfront property is a golf course. Their proposal is nothing short of a dream come true. New streets, bridges, river walks, upscale shops, hotels, restaurants, and many tax dollars will be a tremendous boost to our town and its economy! All of this can happen with almost no impact on the schools in our town.

The Friels could easily have sold to anyone; a developer with housing in mind would surely have crushed our infrastructure. To pick such an extraordinary avenue is truly a gift to Hudson. The developer has a vision for this property that even includes thoughts about traffic and its impact on our community.

Sean Sullivan and his department, along with the planning and zoning boards, now have the perfect opportunity to prove that they are indeed business friendly. They should do everything in their power to be as accommodating as possible to make this project run smoothly and with as little inconvenience as possible to everyone involved.

We are in a position to enhance our community with the developer’s help. If they choose to have water recreation on the river, that’s great. However, we’ll need a boat ramp and structure to keep those activities safe. The same may hold true for many other concessions. Perhaps a Senior Center could be gained near the open air amphitheatre that’s on their list … after all, the seniors would be eager spectators and even performers. The possibilities for Hudson are endless. S.R. Weiner seems willing and able to work with Hudson to make it a win/win situation for all. We can let the developer have control of their property so long as guidelines are in place that are the best possible for both parties; these guidelines must be respected.

As a second-generation Hudson resident, I realize that the days of small town Hudson are long gone. We can never go back to that. We need to now move forward and allow life to progress. In reality, Hudson is a jewel of a location. We live 50 miles from the Atlantic Ocean, 35 miles from Boston, and 30 minutes from the world via the Manchester airport. Let’s be open minded. It’s true that we should preserve the past, and that does happen here through the efforts of the Historical Society, the Conservation Commission, the Library Trustees and other “townie” organizations. Yet, it’s also true that many of our citizens don’t live here; they simply sleep here. Embracing this impending development will keep those people here and make them more deep-rooted in their town.

The next 10 years will bring many changes to town and, hopefully, this project, along with the new bridge in Litchfield, will have many positive impacts including better traffic flow. If that bridge connects Route 3 with Route 102 and spills out into Litchfield and Merrimack, the mini circumferential that currently flows through Hudson will go away.

All of this is fine and well to say, one glaring obstacle seems to be the Selectmen who have kept this project from all of us. Yes, the Friels did ask for secrecy. But, when queried directly “what is going on at the Green Meadow,” the answer we received was “we don’t know.” In fact, they knew for quite a long time what was in the works. It would’ve been in the town’s best interest for citizens to be made aware of this opportunity.

Now that this project is out in the open, let’s keep it that way. Hudson citizens deserve to know what is going on. This project affects us all and we should embrace the many possibilities surrounding it.

by Len Lathrop
December 9, 2005

As the cry from residents in the center of Hudson and the north arise, three cheers for the Freil family, what a great thing for the town -- it could have been houses.

Nothing will have a more far-reaching impact on the town then this project. It is big 375 acres; Pheasant Lane mall is about 60 acres. A plan with two hotels, an organic supermarket, a specialty retail mall called Landmark Square, six other large areas marked retail, 5-office building and a large residential section, are included this plan.

Ok, this is where I come clean, yes, I live in the south end. The road that everyone from Dracut, Pelham and parts of Tyngsboro take going to the Peasant Lane mall and the retail stores of the Daniel Webster Highway and Lowell people take to buy beer and cigarettes tax-free on Sunday. I’m exactly one beer away from the stores on Hudson borders; I pick up the cans and bottles.

Can a project of this nature not effect River Road, Dracut Road and the whole south end? The access road off of the Sagamore Bridge ends at River Road just south of Dracut Road. People on the Merrimack River side of River Road have already been approached to sell their property.

Based on the amount of time and money that the developer has put into this project from the diagrams and projections show at the meeting with the selectmen and the statement from the design engineer that he has been working on this for six month with consultants from Connecticut and Baltimore, I believe it is here to stay.

Not to alarm my fellow south end dwellers, yes what you pay in taxes to the Town of Hudson most likely will go down, as will all Hudson Taxpayers, but so will your property values. If your one of the luck ones where the developer wants your property you can get fair value. If your property is needed for roadway improvement you can be taken by eminent domain you also could be lucky. The government basically takes your land and of course keeping with good business practices tries to lowball you, sometimes very significantly. What if they only take some of your land, as seen when the Dracut Road, Lowell Road and River Road intersection as improved a few years ago, what do you than have more road noise, traffic closer to your home maybe just outside your front door, exhaust fumes, light pollution. But remember your taxes will go down, the water supply might improve and maybe you can pay to tie into the sewer system. But, I don’t believe you’ll have a discount card at the new mall for your inconvenience.

Don’t be upset yet, did you know a developer own 250 acres behind St. Kathryn’s church, real close to this monster mall sorry “life style center.”

A Manchester merchant with a second store in Windham asked if this project was for real as maybe he should see if he can put a third store someplace near this mall.

Sorry where was I, the residential units, yes it could have been all houses. There are residential units on the plan they showed at the selectmen meeting, but no definition of what they are.

If it was all houses how many would it be. Let us review the numbers; 375 acres equal only 187 houses now that we have zoning at 2 acres per house. Next let’s see how many children that would put in the school systems, currently we are about 4,200 really only 4,130 but keep the math simple in our schools and in round numbers 9,475 residential units in Hudson, I know as the HLN is mailed to each one every week. Lets call that 9,500 agreed. By dividing that would be .44 children per unit. Back up of the math the Nashua Regional Planning Commission states the current build out for Hudson is .49 Children per unit.

Next a home valued at $500,000 pays taxes of 8,250 per year, bases of the tax bill we just received, and 66% is the portion to the schools that times the number of houses would equal 1,015,410 dollars. Each child cost 6,900 dollars per year to education. Gross budget by 93 kids we now have $373.710 to offset other students education.

And we have impact fees, to support infrastructure improvement, Library and other town services. Unlike the 400 units that Shepard hill will be when completed. Houses it just doesn’t sound that bad right now.

The Exit Two River Bridge with it traffic, Wal-Mart and Sam have already changed the south end. I haven't seen any for sale signs yet, in my neighborhood but I'm sure I will.

In these matters the only certainty is that nothing is certain.

Pliny the Elder, Roman scholar and scientist (23 AD - 79 AD)

Open Door Policy May Be a Thing of the Past

by Len Lathrop, Robin Rodgers
December 2, 2005

Silence is deadly. Who do elected officials represent? What does it mean when almost everything is behind closed doors? And what is the rationale behind keeping secrets?

Some recent happenings around town:

• Conversation about the Green Meadows golf course development has been going on for a year.
• The soil that was brought in to fill Bensons is full of asbestos and Bensons can’t be sold. The state will sue the vendor. Selectmen have known this for months.
• An undeveloped section of the Circumferential Highway might be sold by the state – if the town changes its zoning. Funds would offset the cost of a new Merrimack River bridge in Litchfield.

What else don’t the taxpayers know? The way that things are being done in Hudson is changing – are they for the better? Why are so many things being discussed behind closed doors? Are the selectmen abusing the Right To Know Law? The citizens have a right to know what is going on the town, not only after it is a done deal.