SaveHudson.com

                                              The Issues.

                     “If this development is so good for Hudson, why are there so many negative issues?”
                          (Anonymous Hudson resident overheard at a 2007 planning board meeting)


Green Meadow Inc. routinely emphasizes the supposed benefits of Sagamore Crossing,
but they seldom address the issues that impact Hudson residents and beg the question:

     Will this proposed development be a benefit or burden to Hudson?

Below is a brief summary the issues that affect Hudson residents, not just Green Meadow Inc.

                                                                               Taxes:

Green Meadow – Assures us this project “will not cause our taxes to go up”,
but have yet to issue any projected tax revenue information.
(Source: http://www.sagamorecrossing.com/wymh.html)

SaveHudson - Revenue from this development may delay, but will not prevent
future tax increases. Sagamore Crossing and the associated secondary
retail expansion will directly impact municipal services.

Nashua and Salem both embraced robust retail development,

and in return have seen their tax rate increase substantially. (See tax data)

Solution – Since Green Meadow is so confident about the tax benefits,
they should put this assurance in writing and guarantee that tax revenue from
Sagamore Crossing will support both the direct and indirect consequences.

                                                      Impact to wetlands:


Green Meadow - Claims they have reduced wetland “impact” by 25% - 40%,
depending on which website page you are viewing.
(Source 1: http://www.sagamorecrossing.com/environmental.html)
(Source 2: http://www.sagamorecrossing.com/pdfs/openletter_6.pdf)



SaveHudson – 25% of the initial 6.75 acres is still over 5 acres of wetland “impact”.
Environmental consultants hired by the town of Hudson have questioned some of the impact areas,

but have yet to receive any reply from Green Meadow. (Source: 12/12/07 Hudson Plannining Board meeting)

In addition, there is no mechanism to prevent further development into sensitive wetland areas at a later date.
(Source: Hudson Conservation Commission case 239-1)


Solution – Reduce size of the proposed development to eliminate all wetland impact.
Place remaining unused space under town conservation easement to prevent future expansion.

                                                           Impact to wildlife:

Green Meadow – Raises the issue of wildlife impact on their website, but never actually responds to the issue.
(Source: http://www.sagamorecrossing.com/wymh.html)



SaveHudson – Losing hundreds of acres of natural habitat will have a substantial impact on local wildlife.

There are 60 identified native wildlife species in Hudson, but GM environmental “scientists”

clearly downplayed the wildlife impact by identifying only “songbirds and white-tailed deer”

on 375 acres of Green Meadow property.
(Source: Hudson Conservation committee case 239-1)

Solution – Independent wildlife audit by NH Audubon society and / or NH fish & game.
                 Independent exemplary natural communities audit by the New Hampshire
                 Natural Heritage Inventory (NHI) – Dept. of Resources & Economic Development.
                 (In accordance with New Hampshire Administrative Rule 302.04(a) and Env-Wt 302.04)

                                                                  Air Pollution:


Green Meadow – Claims there “isn’t any information available” to respond to possible smog issues

(Source: Hudson Board of Selectman meeting 12-12-07)

SaveHudson – Using a secret scientific development (codename: INTERNET),

we discovered an abundance of smog and pollution data.

In fact, EPA data shows that the 14 million vehicles projected to visit
Sagamore Crossing annually will generate over 1,300 metric tons of toxins *:

877.8 metric tons of Carbon Monoxide
257.6 metric tons of Carbon Dioxide
117.6 metric tons of Hydrocarbons
 58.4 metric tons of Nitrogen Oxides

---------------------------------------------------------

1,311.4 metric tons total toxins

* based on an average 30-minute trip within Hudson borders.

Solution – Do not build something that will attract millions of vehicles to Hudson.

                                                            Water Pollution:


Green Meadow – No comment or apparent concern.

SaveHudson – Due to the proximity of the Merrimack River,

the potential to pollute this major waterway is very real.

Storm water run-off from retail parking lots picks up toxic pollutants such as residual motor oil,

anti-freeze, and various other fluids, which could eventual find their way to local aquifiers and the Merrimack river.

Snow removed during the winter also collects these fluids along with a substantial amount of garbage.

When this snow melts, the collected toxins could traverse natural aquifiers or storm drains into the Merrimack river.

The photos below were taken at a Hudson supermarket parking lot.
You can clearly see the soot and garbage that was collected with the snow.

Solution – Do not build something that will attract millions of vehicles to Hudson.

                                                                Eminent Domain:

Green Meadow - Claims no eminent domain in their plans for a proposed

interchange and access road connecting to the Sagamore Bridge.
(Source: http://www.sagamorecrossing.com/wymh.html)


SaveHudson - Green Meadow Inc. owns all the property involved with the proposed

interchange and access roadways, so currently there is no threat of eminent domain.

What they fail to mention is a development of this size will impact traffic on most,

if not all major roadways in Hudson. Once Green Meadow has submitted an actual site plan,

required roadway improvements will be officially identified.

Green Meadow would then need to acquire portions of this land for roadway improvements.

But wait. What if some selfish residents refuse to sell their land to Green Meadow Inc. ?

Simon Properties employed this concept on the proposed Tewksbury Mills,

basically orphaning the mall from the town, except for emergency traffic. (http://www.labelscar.com/massachusetts/tewksbury-mills)

This would eliminate all local traffic concerns. However, Green Meadow would
probably not be able to tie into Sagamore Bridge, as access would be solely for private development.


Solution 4 – Do not build a 1.25 million square foot retail mall in Hudson.

                                                      Impact to local retail:

Green Meadow – Claims local businesses will not be “adversely affected”.
(Source: http://www.sagamorecrossing.com/wymh.html)


SaveHudson – Economic consultants predict local businesses being replaced with upscale “big-box “ retail.

(Click here for details)

                                       Safety

Green Meadow - promises a “safe design of the interchange and roadways”
(Source: http://www.sagamorecrossing.com/wymh.html)

SaveHudson - The NHDOT disagrees, citing the following safety concerns:

1.) The Sagamore Bridge level-of-service (LOS) will be E/F, not the LOS of D/E projected by Green Meadow due to GPI

     using higher peak-hour factors and free flow speeds than a previous River Place analysis for the same roadway.

     The NHDOT wants LOS of D or better.

2.) The queuing on the proposed interchange ramp from Industrial park to Sagamore Bridge (westbound) will cause traffic

     congestion that will extend into the Industrial park.

3.) The distance from Lowell Road ramp onto Sagamore Bridge (westbound) to the proposed Sagamore Crossing

    interchange ramp is too short (300 feet). Based on the posted speed limit of 30 MPH, we calculate a vehicle

    getting on the Sagamore Bridge from Lowell Road destined for Sagamore Crossing would only have 6.82 seconds

    to maneuver across the proposed five lanes and onto the connector road. That's 1.7 seconds for each lane.

4.)  The West-bound lane drop on Sagamore Bridge Road will create capacity problems in the future.

5.) The two-lane Westbound on-ramp and Eastbound off-ramp are unacceptable.

 (Source: 05/14/08 Hudson Planning Board meeting)

                           Quality of Life

SaveHudson - CNNMoney.com (which in 1987, voted Nashua the best city in the U.S.)

                            uses quality of life in compiling their list of top U.S. cities.

                            CNNMoney.com measures quality of life by comparing the following metrics:

                       Commute time (to work)

                       Temperature (in July)

                       Martial status

                       Age

                       Health (average body mass index)

                       Clean air (air quality index)

 (Source 1: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2008/faq/)

 (Source 2:  http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2008/snapshots/PL2751730.html?cnn=yes)

                     How would the addition of Sagamore Crossing affect these metrics?

                     Temperature, Martial status and Age would be unchanged.

                     Health (ABMI) could increase for some residents, while decrease for others,

                    depending on their lifestyle. 

                     Commute time would clearly increase for any residents using Lowell Road, Dracut Road,

                     Route 102, Route 111 or the Sagamore Bridge. 

                     Clean Air (Air Quality Index) would obviousely degrade due to the addition of a projected

                    14 million vehicles traveling through Hudson annually.

Green Meadow - does not understand what it means when someone says "quality of life."
                           (Source: 12-4-2007 BOS workshop)

“We want you to know we have listened to the planning board,

board of selectmen and the community of Hudson.

A great amount of time was put into creating a new plan,

one that incorporates your feedback and address your concerns"
(Source: http://www.sagamorecrossing.com/pdfs/openletter_3.pdf )

SaveHudson – If anyone has a particular concern or feedback that was incorporated

                       into the new Sagamore Crossing plan, we’d love to hear about it.

Green Meadow Inc. typically responds to residents questions or concerns
with vague statements that have little or no real meaning. Some of these include:

“Were thinking about that”

“That’s part of the process”

“That can be answered in more detail by the developer”

“That issue will be addressed at the appropriate time”

                                                                
                                Mis-information:

Green Meadow – Claims there is a lot of misinformation about this project.
                           (Source: Various Planning Board meetings beginning 12/7/2005)

SaveHudson – There is much mis-information concerning this project.

                        However, most of it generated by Green Meadow Inc.

In fact, there is a substantial history of Green Meadow data and testimony contradicting their own statements:

                               How can residents trust Green Meadow proposals,

                       when they actually contradict themselves on a regular basis?