The April 22 meeting of the Hudson Board of Selectmen opened with a quick set of comments from Cody Wojcik, the president of the Hudson-based Southern NH Radio Control Club. The R.C. Club wanted to discuss the recent approval of a solar farm at West Road Landfill where the organization operated its model planes.
“I just wanted to say I appreciate the heads up that we got on this issue tonight, and we are here to answer any questions,” said Wojcik.
The solar farm project was authorized in 2023 after years of planning before being put on hold in 2024 pending a landfill cap investigation.
The local R.C. Club protested after they were denied use of the land. Further investigation into the situation led to a letter from the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) stating that solar panels and sheep grazing are typically the only approved uses for sealed landfills. The NHDES permits regulate the use of the land.
“The current permit in place did not, and still does not, permit the use that occurred in the past, which was the R.C. Club,” explained Town Engineer Elvis Dhima. “We need to file a permit modification, but we currently lack the funds for this unplanned expenditure.”
The relatively flat area at the former landfill made it ideal for the RC Club and solar panels.
“Use for remote-controlled airplane flying could be approved by a type two permit modification,” said Selectman Heidi Jakoby, saying that the land would need to meet certain criteria and that many people had a hand in the permit not being initially correct. “It may be necessary to alter the design of landfill cap to meet these criteria, but it’s also possible that design changes would not be needed.”
Board Chair Dillion Dumont stated that a permit modification allowing the R.C. Club to continue operating would have been possible, but was never going to be easy and would likely have required robust action on the part of the Club, and would have had to be done at an earlier date.
“We’re over a year past getting this information. Nothing was done. At some point you just have to move forward,” said Dumont. “I’m sympathetic to everything that’s going on over there, but the unfortunate part of it is that the five of us are put into a position where we have to make a difficult decision, and I truly think it’s our duty as elected officials to make the best choices for Hudson.”
Due in part to rising costs associated with the longer-than-expected permitting process, the Board of Selectmen opted to move forward with getting a state permit for the solar farm without other uses. According to Dhima, the complications in the permitting process likely cost the town over $50,000 directly or indirectly.
“The modifications that were made to the landfill were significant. It’s not as though we just stuck something on top of the cap. There were significant modifications made with earthing equipment and alternations of terrain. Nobody could have looked at that and said that was minor,” added Selectman Bob Guessferd. “Those were alternations that somebody, at some point should’ve said ‘wait a minute,’ regardless of what somebody else was doing. I would have questioned that.”
He called the closure of the land for model planes a “hard, hard thing” but did not think it was possible to alter the permit for R.C. use at this point.
According to Dhima and Jakoby, as the land is being leased for the use of solar panels, it would return to its current use when the lease ends.
The Board of Selectmen voted four-to-one to empower the Chair to authorize and execute the solar lease agreement.
