At the most recent Hudson Board of Selectmen meeting, one of the agenda items was in regards to potentially moving forward with taking action on an advisory petition warrant article that passed last March.
The warrant article stated:
“Should the Town of Hudson complete a comprehensive infrastructure study independently run by a qualified third-party contractor unrelated to the Town of Hudson or the Nashua Regional Planning Commission? This study will include the following:
- Comprehensive traffic study and impact for the entire town to include all developments being built and approved to be built.
- Emergency services review of staffing, equipment, and training needed based on the facilities and anticipated demand from all the development. This includes, Police, Fire, and DPW.
- Impact on our schools based on the high-density housing and the housing development under construction.
- Sewer and water needs for the town.
- Review the current impact fees assigned to developers based on this study.
- The study results are expected to be used to upgrade and improve the Master Plan, Zoning ordinance, Land Use regulations, and to determine the impact to budgets/taxpayers and equipment/facilities/ staffing needed to function.”
The warrant article was not recommended by the Board of Selectmen on a 3-1, and no funding was allocated for the warrant article.
Selectman, Heidi Jakoby, explained that she wanted to understand what their next steps are now that they had a public hearing on it to get more feedback.
“What are the steps forward,” Jakoby said, noting that they could also decide not to take any action.
Board of Selectmen Chair, Bob Guessferd, noted they don’t have a budget for it, but said the next step would be to put together some sort of RFQ to see what it costs to have the study done.
Selectman, David Morin, noted that despite the people who went to the public hearing, generally supporting it, they didn’t have a lot of people attend.
“We had nine people there,” he said.
Morin also noted that they don’t necessarily need to move forward with it, and also added that it’s likely going to be very expensive to do it.
Selectman, Dillon Dumont, said they could utilize some of the reports and studies that they already have done to help lower the costs.
Jakoby said she would like to see the scope put forward at some point so its a number they could consider and then they could consider putting it forward as a warrant article. She also recognized, however, that it wouldn’t likely be for March.
“All I’m asking is for us to address the warrant article before us which is a comprehensive study,” Jakoby said.
It was ultimately decided for now that they would have the reports they currently have done up online for people in Town to be able to review, while they also continue to look at a possible infrastructure study down the road.
“I think we can continue the discussion,” Guessferd said.