HUDSON – Funding for environmental consulting services to redevelop the Hudson Portuguese Club into municipal and school office space is on the Town Meeting warrant.
“It’s a good size building with a lot of land and a ton of parking. I just hope the town supports it. I think it’s a great opportunity,” Select Board Chair Scott Duplisea said. “The investors and some of the people who have been with the club for a long time prefer that the club, the land and the buildings stay with the town.”
This spring, the Select Board began analyzing the possibility of acquiring the club.
The article before Town Meeting – Article 10 – asks to raise and appropriate $23,500 to fund a contract with Woodard & Curran, an environmental consultant, to provide environmental consulting services to the Select Board regarding the site.
Duplisea called the article “akin to doing a building inspection when buying a house.”
The Portuguese Club proposed the town purchase the roughly 10-acre site, which is located at 13 Port Street, to the Select Board last year. After discussions with other town boards and committees, the Select Board decided it would best serve as a school administration building because the current building on Apsley Street is “in need of desperate repair,” according to Duplisea.
He said the school department had discussed the possibility of moving the school administration building to the old police station on Packard Street, but it would have cost too much to repair.
Duplisea said an appraisal of the site has been obtained and the results of a feasibility study will soon be reviewed by the Select Board.
A majority vote during Town Meeting is required for the passage of this article. If Article 10 is approved at Town Meeting, Duplisea said it will then be included as a ballot question for the town election.
“There is nothing else in town that size that could possibly be obtained by the town and used for, not only municipal and school uses, but recreational uses also. I find it to be attractive, even though it is going to cost money,” Duplisea said.
Town Meeting is scheduled for Nov. 21.
