Hudson Select Board approves outdoor dining permit for Wild Hare restaurant/brewery

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Hudson Select Board approves outdoor dining permit for Wild Hare restaurant/brewery
Wild Hare restaurant and brewery now has the town’s approval to begin offering outdoor dining. (Photo/Dakota Antelman)

HUDSON – Wild Hare restaurant and brewery in Hudson is getting set to open its outdoor seating area after receiving approval from the Select Board last week. 

The 4-0 vote marked the latest step forward for Wild Hare, which already opened for business in its indoor space at the Landing at Hudson Mills earlier this year. 

“We are excited to be presenting another outdoor dining experience to Hudson’s bustling food scene, and to grow the draw of visitors to the beautiful Broad St. Mill now known as The Landing,” Wild Hare’s Keith Sullivan wrote in a statement to the Community Advocate on Wednesday.

Wild Hare pursues permits

Wild Hare is a new venture by the owners of Medusa Brewing Company. It offers a broad menu that ranges from coffee and pastries, to lunch options, to beer. 

“The ever-changing menu here at Wild Hare is vastly different from anything else in town, and is designed to be inspiring, uplifting, and refreshing,” Sullivan said.

Wild Hare had previously requested a pouring permit and a common victualler’s license as well as a license for indoor and outdoor entertainment associated with its new location. 

The Select Board granted the pouring permit and the indoor portion of the victualler’s license at a meeting back in early January. But it voted to pass over both the entertainment license and the outdoor victualler’s license following a lengthy discussion. 

Beyond Select Board members’ comments, a number of area residents additionally sent a petition to the Select Board prior to that meeting in January, with some speaking during the meeting to express concerns about noise pollution and parking, among other things.

“We don’t have an issue with Medusa or Wild Hare going into the building,” resident Scott LaFleur said at the time. “We have an issue with anything that they’re going to do outside of the building, which includes music, entertainment [and] dining.”

Wild Hare makes changes to outdoor dining request

Sullivan returned at the Select Board’s March 28 meeting as he again sought the outdoor victualler’s license, which would clear the way for outdoor seating.

In speaking with the Select Board, he noted a series of changes to Wild Hare’s permit request that he said emerged from a variety of discussions with abutters and Wild Hare staff in recent weeks.

He explained that they would only be using space in front of their location’s garage doors for outdoor dining. 

Sullivan acknowledged that a previous meeting where neighbors expressed concerns about the plan was a factor in this decision.

Hudson Select Board approves outdoor dining permit for Wild Hare restaurant/brewery
Wild Hare is located at the Landing at Hudson Mills. (Photo/Dakota Antelman)

In a letter to the Select Board sent on March 21, Sullivan separately wrote that Select Board member Shawn Sadowski had helped set up a meeting with concerned neighbors “to go over the nature of [Wild Hare’s] operation, as well as to flush out any concerns that may not have been voiced.” That meeting took place after discussion at the Select Board’s meeting in January.

Wild Hare chose to forego its application for an outdoor entertainment permit as a result of this meeting with residents, Sullivan wrote.

“The company may wish to pursue this in the future; however, we feel that it is unnecessary for the success of our business at this time, and that it is a fair compromise for operating in proximity to area neighborhoods,” Sullivan noted.

Wild Hare has also opted to reduce the number of seats in its proposed outdoor dining area from 60 to a maximum of 40, though Sullivan said that they would likely end up with slightly fewer seats than that. 

This reduction came after Wild Hare’s chef raised concerns that there may be too many seats in that area, which Sullivan said was an additional factor in the eventual decision to scale this plan back. 

“That’s a good worry,” said Select Board member Michael Burks. 

Wild Hare is currently open six days a week from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. from Tuesdays through Sunday. 

The team plans to open their outdoor dining area on April 12. 

Sullivan said they then plan to add an “intimate dinner service” available by reservation in the coming weeks.

Additional reporting by Dakota Antelman

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