The Oct. 23 meeting of Hudson Planning Board met on Oct. 23 to hear a traffic study from Colbea Enterprises, who wanted to put a gas station and convenience around 14 Brenton Ave. Project Manager, Chris Rice, of TFMoran stated that the study “did undergo third-party review” despite recent concerns from the Board and members of the public.
“It was done back in December of 2023, and it has been peer-reviewed,” explained Robert Duval, an Engineer at TFMoran. “The trip generation for the 5,400-square-foot convenience store with 12 fueling positions is about 306 in the roadway peak hour. Like all gas-convenience stores, a significant number of those trips are ‘pass-by’ trips, which means that vehicles are already on the roadways, traveling to another destination.”
He stated that such pass-by trips would likely represent three-quarters of gas station customers and would be from people already using the nearby Lowell Road. According to the study, around one trip per minute of new traffic would be added to Lowell during peak hours.
Despite the peer review, Board member, James Crowley, believed the report failed to account for every factor.
“There are major missing projects not incorporated into the current study,” he said, adding that several nearby projects, like the Life is Good facility, did not seem to be in the traffic study. “I also do not understand why, just across the river, several major Nahua residential developments or a major condo development called Rosewood and Lichfield were not included in the traffic impact study.”
Crowley worried about “background growth contributors” pass-by traffic might have, noting many drivers pass through Hudson already. Crowley also wants to know why the drive-through window proposed for the convenience store was left out of the study.
Board member, Victor Oates, believed a one-percent growth estimate seemed unrealistic when taking the expected Target Logistics Center and Life is Good facility into account.
Duval stated such factors were covered in an earlier scoping meeting to determine what to include in the traffic study.
“By far the overwhelming amount of traffic from Life is Good came from the south,” he argued. “There’s very few trips that would be added here and it will not affect the study, if it’s included.”
Chair, Tim Malley, questioned why the drive-through numbers did not receive more emphasis.
“It’d make more sense to anticipate the larger volume,” said Malley.
In-house counsel, Jay Hall, from Colbea called the impact of the drive-through similar to a “small 500-square-foot coffee shop.” He did not think including EV charges would be a significant trip generator.
Colbea agreed to examine the possible impact of customers visiting only the convenience store or car wash. The study mainly focused on traffic to the gas pumps.
Darrell Noble of 12 Atwood Ave. claimed morning traffic in the area was already busy enough without the gas station.
“I’ve heard a couple people say they’ve actually tried to come onto Atwood Avenue and tried to pull out onto Lowell Road. If you do this daily, like we do, at 7 a.m. in the morning, you cannot get out on that road,” he said. “It’s a 30 mile per hour speed limit you find me someone who’s doing 30 miles per hour in a morning commute, it’s 45, all day long.”
“The traffic at County Road is going to get worse, the traffic at Atwood is going to get worse,” added Richard Patterson of 2 Madison Dr. “I find it hard to believe only 70 new trips per day are generated.”
A final decision on the proposal is not expected for some time.
The Hudson Planning Board is scheduled to meet again on Wednesday, Nov. 13, at 7 p.m. in the Buxton Room of Town Hall.
