HUDSON: The city of Hudson has high hopes that 2012 will bring interest to a couple of nearly empty industrial parks that could house thousands of workers.
“We’re getting more phone calls these days,” said City Manager Anthony Bales.
The city has an elected mayor in William Currin, but it’s a largely ceremonial post. The day-to-day operation of the city is on the shoulders of Bales, who was appointed by City Council in 2006.
While there are several promising development projects on the table, Bales said he doesn’t take that as a sign that the economy is rebounding.
As a matter of fact, he senses the opposite as he counts more than 500 applications recently received for an assistant’s position open in his office.
Still, talks are under way with two companies that could be the first to enter the brand- new 136-acre Seasons Greene Eco-Industrial Park, an idea that officials say is unique in the state because it targets green companies exclusively.
Meanwhile, the 128-acre Hudson Crossing Business Park snagged its first tenant after standing empty for five years.
Meyer Distributing Co. built its headquarters there last year, and officials are hoping the sound of bulldozers attracts attention.
Other projects in Hudson’s near future are three facilities catering to the area’s aging population.
The Planning Commission has approved plans for a 42-room skilled nursing facility on Barlow Road; a 12,800 square-foot addition to Laurel Lake Retirement Community; and an 83-bed assisted living facility to be called Gables of Hudson.
The private but city-supported TECHudson business incubator accepted its first client in October, with the potential to house six to eight start-up businesses.
But while some dreams are thriving, another appears all but dead.
The city bought the former Youth Development Center school-and-dorms complex on Hines Hill Road in 2008 and for a time was poised to turn it into a bustling center of education, nonprofit and sports-related activity.
One by one, pieces of that plan began to falter last year. While a couple of businesses continue to express interest in the property, it is likely most of the buildings will be demolished before the year is out.
Streets, utilities
The city will spend $5.6 million on its roads this year. A large chunk of that budget, mostly from grants, has been set aside for two projects.
In June, the city will repair the sanitary sewer line along state Route 303 in preparation for next year’s road resurfacing.
And in September, after Akron repairs its waterline running along Stow Road, Hudson will resurface Stow from Norton Road to state Route 303.
Motorists may be looking at several months of inconvenience, but residents will hardly notice another major undertaking.
The city is nearly finished installing new remotely read electric meters and will soon launch a similar effort to transform the water meter system.
The changes will allow crews to do in a couple of days what it used to take a month of door-to-door visits to accomplish, Bales said.
Just for fun
Hudson’s community calendar has always been a busy one, and 2012 should match last year’s total of more than 70 events.
If history repeats, the biggest draws will be Labor Day Weekends’s Taste of Hudson festival, August’s Art on the Green arts and crafts show, and the popular Hudson Home & Garden Tour in June.
Meanwhile, the new $1.6 million Veterans Way Park will open this spring.
The 32-acre amenity, featuring restrooms, trails and sand volleyball and basketball courts, was largely funded by groups and foundations.
Another grass-roots movement is building the school district a new high school stadium, expected to open this fall.
The Hudson City Schools Foundation is close to raising the $5.5 million needed for a 5,000-seat stadium, to be built at the site of the current track field.
“We definitely have a lot going on,” Bales said.
Paula Schleis can be reached at 330-996-3741 or pschleis@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/paulaschleis.