Groups opposing Riverplace plan have Mass. appeal

By ASHLEY SMITH, Telegraph Staff

Friday, Feb. 16, 2007

HUDSON –Activists from Massachusetts who fought lifestyle centers in their towns showed up in Hudson on Thursday night with yard signs and bumper stickers bearing the slogan “Riverplace Project/ What About The Traffic?”

According to Kathy Leary, one of the Hudson residents who organized the meeting, it wasn’t initially clear who brought them.

Most of the 60-plus people who showed up in the Ann Seabury Community Room at the Hudson police station were residents concerned about the pace of development in town, particularly a proposal to build the largest shopping center in New England at Green Meadow Golf Club.

The meeting was organized to mobilize those people, forming a watchdog group of sorts for local planning and development.

Several people said Riverplace is too large for the Green Meadow site.

“I’ve always felt that the Riverplace project as it’s been conceptualized is unmanageable,” said Bill Cole, who lives near the golf course. Cole is also an alternate member of the town’s planning board.

W/S Development Inc. of Chestnut Hill, Mass., hopes to build a massive mixed-use development on the 375-acre site. The first phase would be a 1.1 million-square-foot open-air shopping plaza called a lifestyle center. The center would be modeled after a town square or downtown with big sidewalks, outdoor entrances to shops and restaurants, a public ice-skating rink and an entertainment district with a 16-screen movie theater.

A hotel and conference center, an office park, 600 apartments or condos, an outdoor amphitheater, a riverwalk and big-box retailers such as Target are planned for subsequent phases.

Discussion at Thursday’s meeting lasted more than two hours.

Connie Owen, another one of the organizers, urged people to make their opinions of the project known to town officials.

“Be heard. Don’t sit back and let this happen,” Owen said. “This is our town and our government.”

At several points, conversation turned to the domino effect such a massive development is likely to create. Already, a 20-store strip mall is under construction on Lowell Road and plans are in the works for a larger one just down the road, across from the Green Meadow site.

There were gasps from the crowd when Cole said there are currently 36 development projects – ranging from residential to commercial – in various stages in Hudson.

Paul Johnson, a political activist who lives in Nashua, said Hudson residents are absolutely right to think about all development in town, not just Green Meadow.

“I would encourage you to think about what you want your town to look like in 20 years,” said Johnson, who opposed the plan to build a Wal-Mart on Amherst Street in Nashua because of increased traffic and wetlands impacts.

Some of the people who showed up are members of the newly formed Hudson Grassroots Coalition, an e-mail network that recently launched the Stop Riverplace Web site. Others were members of the former Friends of Green Meadow group, mostly composed of golf club neighbors. A few were golfers.

At least two people wanted to know why Riverplace couldn’t go to a townwide vote. Cole explained that the town doesn’t have that right, adding that a petition to rezone the property would probably not hold up in court.

The property is zoned for general use, which allows for retail and office buildings, among other things.

Leary acknowledged that there may be no way to stop development on the site but said the developer may walk away if the town sets so many limits or parameters on what it can build.

“Sometimes they say, ‘Forget it. We’ll go somewhere else,’ ” Leary said.

W/S submitted a site plan application for phase one Jan. 19, but it could take the town a year or more to review the plan.

The project was dealt a setback last week when the planning board voted to return the plan because it did not comply with a town ordinance. Because the project impacts wetlands, W/S must first seek a wetlands special exception from the zoning board of adjustment.

Supporters say it will bring jobs and tax revenue into Hudson. W/S has estimated Riverplace would contribute about $5 million annually to Hudson’s tax base at full build-out after the cost of increased services such as police and fire calls are factored in.