Westborough, Massachusetts’ building commissioner on 2 November withdrew the ruling that had let Amazon plan a Prime Air drone base at its warehouse. Amazon had asked on 30 October to withdraw its application, 11 days after a town meeting voted 510 to 13 to bar drone launch pads.
Amazon’s letter asks the Planning Board to approve the withdrawal “without prejudice”, WHDH and This Week in Worcester reported. That leaves Amazon free to file again. Amazon “looks forward to continuing to work with Town officials on next steps,” the letter says. A spokesperson told the Telegram & Gazette the company would be resubmitting a revised project soon, after further talks with local stakeholders.
State Senator Michael Moore and Representatives Hannah Kane and Kate Donaghue announced the move after Amazon called them that night. They said they were “extremely pleased”. Congressman Jim McGovern called it “a major victory for people power” on 31 October.
What Amazon had planned
Amazon wanted to turn part of the parking lot at its 64 Otis Street fulfillment center into a takeoff and landing area for its MK30 drones. It would have been Prime Air’s first site in New England. Amazon told residents it hoped to make up to 1,000 deliveries a day there, This Week in Worcester reported.
The town’s building commissioner ruled on 26 August that the drone base was an accessory use of the warehouse, allowed as of right. That meant it needed only site plan approval. Residents appealed the ruling on 25 September, and Amazon asked the Planning Board to wait for the appeal, the town says.
Commissioner William Hezlitt’s letter of 2 November withdraws that ruling “in its entirety”, because Amazon’s withdrawal left no application for it to apply to, the Telegram & Gazette reported. The letter makes no determination on anything Amazon files next and changes no existing use of the Otis Street property.
What a new application would face
The bylaw voted on 19 October bars launch pads and drop zones for commercial drones anywhere in town. The town clerk sent it to the attorney general on 22 October. It also needs the approval of the state’s aeronautics division before it takes effect.
That division wrote to Amazon on 22 October that Prime Air cannot proceed without its certificate of approval. It plans at least one public hearing before deciding on one. On 27 October Westborough and other affected towns and cities wrote to the FAA and Amazon, backing a call by Senators Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren for a site-specific environmental assessment.
FlightBrief analysis: with the ruling gone, no Westborough decision now says a drone base counts as part of a warehouse’s ordinary use. A revised application would need a fresh ruling on that question, and the bylaw that would bar a base still waits for the state.
More than 100 people came to the zoning board of appeals hearing on the residents’ appeal on 2 November. Their lawyer, Ben Tymann, asked the board to continue it until after the Planning Board meets on 10 November; if that board grants Amazon’s withdrawal, he said, the appeal would “not need to be acted upon”. The Planning Board’s agenda for 10 November, posted on 13 October, lists Amazon’s site plan hearing as continued to that meeting.
