The December meeting of the Hudson Conservation Commission focused on a conditional use permit application for 1 Bockes Road, where plans call for a 12,000-square-foot multi-tenant retail building. The proposal sparked questions from nearby residents about environmental and safety impacts.
“The wetlands – the plan across the street shows grading into a 75-foot wetland buffer. That buffer exists to prevent runoff, erosion, and flooding from reaching nearby homes. I have questions for why the encroachment is being allowed, and what mitigation would be required to protect the wetlands and properties around them,” said resident Steven Cotroneo, who urged a third-party environmental review. “Any change to the grading or drainage on the parcel can shift the water flow during storms or snowmelt. How would the runoff be prevented from being directed towards our homes?”
Cotroneo also raised concerns about well water protection and the potential disturbance of an adjacent site containing sealed asbestos.
“Will the town require professional environmental testing before the ground disturbance begins?” he asked. “How will the safety of families, pets, and local wildlife be ensured during the process?”
Town Civil Engineer Don Kirkland explained that asbestos burial sites are regulated.
“There’s a license for anyone that wants to inspect a site such as this where there’s buried asbestos,” said Kirkland. “If they were to disturb or remove this asbestos, one of those people would have to be on site.”
Conservation Chair Carl Murphy noted that the asbestos site is well documented by the state, while Selectman Liaison David Morin added that past development applications and state records provide resources for residents seeking more information.
“I’m sure there’s a very good map of where everything is and where the asbestos would be,” said Morin. “This town is full of asbestos. We’ve gotten pretty good at treating it.”
Project Manager Chris York of Greenman-Pedersen, Inc. addressed concerns about wetland buffer impacts.
“There’s a number of comments from the first meeting and from the site walk in terms of adding mitigation out there,” said York. “We took the building and shifted it over as far as we could to the west to make sure that all impervious surface was outside of the buffer zone. All that we’re doing is grading inside the buffer zone.”
York explained that the plan minimizes grading and includes removing and adding trees and shrubs within the buffer zone. A recent revision also eliminated snow storage from the buffer following a Conservation Commission request.
“We’re lifting the site up to get out of the asbestos,” York added. “It’s an area that’s just going to be used for truck deliveries, store deliveries, and for the trash truck to get around.”
The design incorporates catchwater and drainage basins to manage runoff. After reviewing comments, the presentation, and a prior site walk, the Commission voted to recommend the conditional use permit with additional stipulations, including requirements for the seed mix in the wetland buffer zone.
