RiverPlace won’t be good for Hudson

Published: Monday April 9, 2007

I was at the Hudson Planning Board meeting on March 28. I was there thinking that as a town resident, I would be able to voice my opinion on the proposed RiverPlace development. They let us know right at the beginning that we would not be able to say anything.

I sat there and listened; what I got from this meeting is that no one knows what is really going on or what direction he or she should take. They all were very careful about what they said while the townspeople were there.

At one point, the attorney for the developer wanted Mr. William Cole, an alternate member of the Planning Board, to step aside. He must be the only one that is not for this massive open-air shopping center.

At another point, I also heard we, the townspeople, were going to be able to vote on this. If this is the case, then why are they going through all this?

Of all the people I talked to, I found one person that was for this. His answer was it would up our property value. I don’t see that happening.

With all the shopping centers in Nashua or Lowell, Mass., their property values are less than Hudson. Hudson is a town, not a city. I don’t think that RiverPlace will be good for any of us.

I work off River Road and live up by T-Bones. It takes me 25 minutes at 3:30 p.m. to get home. In the last few weeks, it has taken longer with what they are building across from Fox Hollow (Nottingham Square). It takes 10 minutes longer.

Did you ever go over the bridge to get back into Hudson at this time? On a good night, it takes you four lights to get on Lowell Road.

So we can widen the road – how are we going to do this? You guessed it: They will start taking your land. Some of the homes in this area have no frontage. Take a ride down River Road and look at those homes. Real people live there.

We will not only have traffic coming and going, we will need more town workers. Someone will have to pick up the trash that motorists will be throwing out car windows. There will be more fixing of roads. I could go on forever why we don’t need this development in Hudson, but I will end it here.

I hope to see a bigger turnout at the next planning board meeting on April 25. Hopefully, this time they will let the townspeople speak.

Kathy Briand, Hudson

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