The Planning Board oversaw a site plan hearing for a proposed gas station and convenience store on Lowell Road during their Jan. 24 meeting. The public hearing was delaying from a previous meeting, and many of the residents, present at both meetings, were there to voice their concerns about the impact this plan would have on the neighborhood, traffic, and quality of life at one of the busiest intersections in Hudson.
During the meeting, Traffic Engineering Consultant, Jason Plourde, of VHB and Project Engineer, Peter Madsen, of Keach-Nordstrom Associates began the public hearing by giving a presentation on the proposed plan.
“The property is located at the intersection of Lowell Road and Central Street in the business district. What we’re doing is proposing a gas station featuring five gas pumps with ten bays and a 4,560 square foot convenience store with a drive-thru for a coffee shop,” Madsen explained.
He claimed the site would meet space and safety requirements, including a loading space for deliveries and trash pickups. The plan would include environmental standards to protect nearby water sources and had a landscaping set up Madsen promised would “fit the character” of the area.
The proposal would also add more driveways to the property for better access, something the Traffic Engineer took into account regarding the traffic impact.
“The scope of our traffic study consisted of the intersections, the time periods, and different factors we should be looking at,” said Plourde. “What we’re doing is proposing to lengthen the right turn lane on the Lowell Road northbound approach.”
Additionally, the traffic study took the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic into account when calculating their numbers while adjusting for what he called “peak month conditions” and predicting future traffic volumes.
Several members of the public were unimpressed by the plan.
“They’re putting in something bigger than really needs to be there,” said Jacob Marynicz of 72 Central Street, who accused the applicant of asking for regulatory waivers based on misleading information. “No other gas station in Hudson has multiple driveways on different roads on either side of a signalized intersection.”
Christopher Flemming of nearby 76 Central Street agreed with the complaints, adding that moving the lines when lengthening any lanes could be dangerous.
“I’ve already almost gotten hit a few times. I want to know how many times the Hudson PD has stopped people from speeding on that road in the last month, let’s see that on the study,” said Flemming.
There was also some bafflement as to what purpose another gas station in Hudson would serve.
“My question is: gas station, why?” asked Paige Schaller of 213 Fox Hollow Drive. “At this point, if you run out of gas in Hudson, that’s on you. We have gas stations like every mile!”
Heidi Jakoby of 94 Gowing Road requested that the two variances not be granted and stated, “There are lots of other businesses that can be built on this property which are not gas stations.” Jakoby raised concerns about hours of operation, light pollution and school traffic in this area.
“Does not significantly deteriorate the intersection means, it will deteriorate the intersection” based on the reading of the traffic report Ed Thompson of 22 Burns Hill Road stated. Thompson additional raised concerns of traffic cutting through the property, the plus and minus tolerances in the traffic study are not defined. “Another concern of mine is the hours of operation and how that will affect the residents” stated Thompson.
Hours of operation, light pollution, traffic cutting through the property, and the plus and minus tolerance of the traffic study were concerns raised by Ed Thompson of 22 Burns Hill Road.
By contrast, Todd Boyer of 2 Merrill Street declared himself “completely in favor” of the plan and admitted he had not read any of the reports or documents concerning the project.
“The applicant is going to increase the size of Lowell Road, the applicant is going to increase the size of the section the 18-wheelers have a problem with, and they are going to get traffic off Lowell Road faster to get into the store,” said Boyer. “We’re actually going to reduce trips on the Central Street.”
Boyer expressed his opinion that other gas stations in town had far more dangerous setups than what was proposed for the Central Gas project.
Following a long public input session, the meeting ran out of time before getting to questions by board members.
The Planning Board voted to take up the matter again on Wednesday, February 28.
