Amazon has its eye on launching delivery drones in Central Massachusetts, as residents in the targeted host community push back against the thought of their skies becoming a bustling highway.
Amazon Air is looking to build a 6,800-square-foot Prime Air Drone Delivery Center at its Westboro warehouse, marking the company’s first proposal of its kind in the Bay State.
Company representatives vow that Westborough has served as a “beacon of innovation,” with Amazon’s robotics facility, and they are looking to add onto that legacy with drone delivery.
This is all part of a larger, national push, as Amazon announced a plan last month to expand the airborne shipping to suburban areas in nearly 500 U.S. cities.
If Amazon gets the go-ahead in Westborough, the company would launch MK30 delivery drones – a six-blade, 5-foot-by-5-foot aircraft that can move at about 60 to 75 miles per hour – from its warehouse to homes within a 7.5-mile radius. That means Shrewsbury, Grafton, most of Southborough and parts of Marlborough and Worcester are all covered in the plan.
Customers could receive drone deliveries in as fast as 30 minutes, as the buzzing aircraft carry packages lighter than 5 pounds. Amazon has said that packages are delivered from 13 feet above a particular “landing zone.”
The concept, though, is sparking concerns in Westborough, as residents share fears about potential disruptions to their quality of life – noise pollution, less privacy and safety risks.
Local towns and cities can’t do much to control whether Amazon gets to conduct drone deliveries in their communities and neighboring areas. The Federal Aviation Administration holds exclusive oversight of national airspace and flight paths.
Westborough resident Christine Farmer has pointed out that the FAA is “grappling with drone port regulations which are still unclear and not fully formed.”
Farmer is asking the town’s Select Board to request the Planning Board to reconsider Amazon’s special permit application to include what she described as a “full community, environmental, safety impact study” for the drone delivery center.
“We are at the brink of a seminal moment for our town, our Commonwealth and New England at large,” Farmer told the Select Board on Tuesday. “If Amazon moves forward, Westborough will become a regional drone hub, the epicenter of a new level of commercial drone activity.”
Westborough resident Rod Jane said that surrounding communities would feel a fraction of the impact his town would if the plan turns reality.
“The one thing is that Westborough gets 100% of that impact,” Jane said on Tuesday. “This is a really big deal. You can hear those things at 100 feet or 200 feet; it doesn’t matter. You can hear drones; there’s no doubt about it.”
Fellow resident Wayne Lockhart suggested the Select Board consider geofencing, which he said would give the community “multiple options of allowance of flying and designated areas.”
Lockhart referred to how Gillette Stadium blocks drones from flying during major events.
“Like many things, pendulums swing very far in both directions,” the resident said, “and Amazon isn’t the only drone provider now or in the future.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report
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