The Hudson Conservation Commission came together on March 10 to continue a hearing for the new T-BONES location at 256 Lowell Rd. Engineer Sam Foisie of Meridian Land Services returned to address several outstanding concerns about how the massive restaurant will impact surrounding water sources.
“There were some areas where I was lacking at our last meeting with the specialties of understanding the functions and values of the wetland and the associated buffer,” said Foisie, who revealed that Meridian had a certified wetland scientist and soil scientist working with them on the project. “These wetlands areas were fed from surface waters and the buffer zones are pretty overpopulated with several invasive species that should be removed and would be removed with this proposal.”
Construction of the new restaurant and parking lot would have around 3,900 square feet of temporary impact on the 100-foot buffer, along with an additional 20,648 square feet of permanent impact. At least some additional impact came from safety concerns raised by other town officials regarding the size, shape, and location of the site’s parking lot turn lane.
With a relatively large parking lot, Foisie outlined how the overall design aimed to reduce the impact of stormwater runoff into the surrounding groundwater.
“What we used here is shrinking the impacts at the backside of the slopes on the stormwater basins,” he explained. “We increased the storage area outside of the buffer area to hold that basin closer to the parking.”
He was slightly unhappy that the design was not as “efficient” as it could be due to a high water table. The plan also included replanting the buffer with native landscaping plants and trees after removing invasive species. Erosion control measures would be in place before construction starts, with the acknowledgment that some impact was inevitable owing to the project’s scope.
“This is obviously a much larger restaurant than the current Hudson T-BONES,” said co-owner Tom Boucher. “This is a $1.4 million piece of property. I don’t care if you’re a chain, you can’t build a piece of property like that and make a small restaurant work. We can’t make the numbers work without a restaurant of this size.”
Despite this claim, a few Commissioners were uncomfortable with the impact such a large site plan would have.
“I still have some concerns,” said Secretary Chris Cameron. “You’re pushing the minimums on many of the buffers.”
He warned that there was little room for a design change and no ability to expand the parking lot if the restaurant needed it. Boucher rejected a suggestion to consider reducing the overall footprint by adding underground parking due to the “tremendous” cost.
Much of the final impact on the surrounding wetlands and the buffer will depend on whether the Planning Board pushes for more substantial site plan changes.
Despite a few concerns, Commissioners thanked the pair for reducing wetland and buffer impact where possible and unanimously recommended approving the plan’s stormwater basin conditional use application.
The next meeting of the Conservation Commission is set for Monday, April 14, at 7 p.m. in the Buxton Room of Town Hall.
