The Hudson Planning Board met on April 8 to hear a detailed presentation from Keith Curran of Bohler Engineering on a proposed Restaurant Depot facility on Lowell Road. The project, which would add a 50,000 square foot wholesale food service warehouse to the busy corridor, drew questions from both Board members and residents about traffic, parking, and neighborhood impacts.
“It’s a 50,000 square foot building for Restaurant Depot,” Curran said. “The idea is that this is a wholesale retail for food service suppliers. They have four loading docks, there’s a driveway coming off Logistics Drive, that’s a 30 foot-wide drive, and there’s parking for employees. We are showing 173 parking spaces.”
Larry Cohen, representing Restaurant Depot, said the parking count is typical for a facility of this size. Because the business serves only restaurant owners, caterers, and food service professionals, not the general public, he argued that the parking demand is predictable and based on established patterns at other locations.
To address anticipated concerns about traffic, the presentation included a traffic impact analysis prepared by Shaun Kelly of Chappell Engineering.
“Today, the corridor at Route 3A/Lowell Road carries about 23,000 vehicles per day, between 2,300 to 2,500 during peak hours,” Kelly said. “We accounted for growth in traffic.”
Kelly said the analysis incorporated other major developments in the area, including the Target Logistics Center. The plan proposes a dedicated right turn lane and upgraded signal controls at a nearby intersection. Trip generation estimates were based on Restaurant Depot locations in Andover and Avon, Massachusetts.
Board member James Crowley asked about the size of those comparison sites and whether the vegetation buffer between the project and nearby homes would be sufficient. Kelly said both Massachusetts buildings were approximately 80,000 square feet, significantly larger than the Hudson proposal, and generated more traffic than expected locally.
“The industry bases trip generation out of square feet,” Kelly said, adding that nearly all customer traffic consists of standard passenger vehicles. “Almost all of the activity here, 99% of it, is passenger vehicles. You might have a van that’s lettered with a business name, but it’s not a commercial vehicle per se.”
Some Board members suggested reducing the number of parking spaces to better meet zoning and environmental requirements. Cohen acknowledged the request but stressed the importance of adequate parking for Restaurant Depot’s business model.
“It’s a big thing in the restaurant mentality, where people say, ‘I love that place, it’s great, but I can never park and I don’t go there,’” Cohen said. “We typically will need 80 to 100 spots, but if we have a short week where we’re closed on a Monday, it all gets compressed. If we have a sale, people, instead of spending the average 45 minutes, spend an hour and a half.” He agreed to remove a limited number of spaces if necessary.
Several residents raised concerns about the scale of the project and its cumulative impact on Lowell Road.
“It’s just hard for me to believe that we’re looking for another large project on the same road, using the same large entrance as the Target Flow Center, and the traffic from the Target Flow Center hasn’t even been realized,” said resident Edward Thompson. He also noted that Restaurant Depot’s parent company, Jetro, had been purchased by Sysco the previous day. Sysco announced the acquisition on March 30.
Noise was another concern. “With a 100 foot setback, I think it’s about 150 feet to my son’s window,” said resident Mark Tempesta. “Is there going to be anything to mitigate the noise?”
Kelly said the project meets all noise requirements and that the 100 foot setback would remain vegetated to serve as a natural buffer. The plan also includes an “acoustic fence” to further reduce noise impacts.
The Planning Board did not take a vote, opting instead to wait for additional input from the Conservation Commission before making a decision.
The next meeting of the Hudson Planning Board is scheduled for Wednesday, April 22, at 7 p.m. in the Buxton Community Development Conference Room.