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TOWN OF FLORIDA — The planning process for a massive 3.2-million-square-foot Amazon distribution center proposed on Route 5S in the town of Florida is already progressing rapidly.
“It's a big company, so they're moving pretty quick. It seems like they’ve got a lot of hands on deck to get these projects rolling,” town Planning Board Chairman Stephen Viele said Monday.
Project representatives laid out a timeline to present complete plans and related materials to the board at its May meeting, seeking to set up a public hearing on the proposal in June.
The aggressive schedule seems doable to Viele, who noted there appears to be a more robust team working on the plans than the town typically sees, including for other large warehouse projects along the same stretch of road.
“Dollar General was even tiny compared to this,” Viele said.
The proposed Amazon facility would stand 103.5-feet tall, featuring five floors with over 608,000 square feet of functional space on each level. The approximately 137.2-acre site eyed for the first-mile distribution center is adjacent to Amazon’s existing last-mile facility on Route 5S.
Orders would be picked, packed and shipped to localized delivery centers from the 24/7 facility. Plans are optimized for robotic bin storage systems instead of traditional warehouse racking while upper floors would use gravity-assisted material handling equipment to convey goods to outbound shipping areas on the ground level.
“The proposed MSV1 facility represents a state-of-the-art e-commerce logistics, storage, and distribution hub designed to achieve maximum operational efficiency within a relatively compact footprint,” the project narrative states.
Despite the use of automation, at least 750 permanent jobs are expected to be created at the facility involving a capital investment “in excess of several hundred million dollars,” according to the project narrative.
BMG Albany LLC is the developer, which has the same Pennsylvania address as industrial real estate developer Bluewater Property Group.
Amazon would ultimately own the new facility, project representatives reported to the Planning Board last month. Winstanley Enterprises currently owns the project site.
For the newly-proposed facility, developers had sought to amend a site plan and special use permit previously issued for one-million-square-foot warehouse at the site in December 2019. The past permit would have expired a year after it was issued, according to the town’s engineering consultants from Barton & Loguidice.
A new site plan application is required, but the proposed distribution center is able to build from some of the previously prepared plans and a wetland permit issued for the site in the past by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been extended to Jan. 10, 2027.
“They're already kind of ahead on certain aspects,” Viele said.
A past endangered species study will also be updated, but a new traffic study and noise analysis will be prepared for the proposed facility. Ambient noise monitoring equipment is expected to be installed later this week to track existing noise levels around the project area.
“We just want to make sure that we're looking at all the environmental issues for you,” said Steve Wilson, of Bohler Engineering.
Acknowledging some of the project representatives have previously presented other plans in the town, Viele suggested developers and engineers have become more familiar with issues probed by the board and are trying to better anticipate what members might request during the review.
Meanwhile, parking plans for the Amazon facility are being referred to the Zoning Board of Appeals to set the minimum levels required for the project.
Whereas many uses are subject to minimum off-street parking requirements based on total square footage, there are no such established levels for warehouses and distribution centers in town zoning laws. Project-specific requirements are instead set by the ZBA.
Officials suggested this can provide environmental benefits by reducing the amount of paved or impervious surfaces to the levels actually needed to support projects.
“It's great that the ordinance allows you to right-size parking, you don't overbuild it,” Wilson said.
Developers have requested setting a minimum requirement of 984 passenger vehicle parking spaces, 415 trailer parking spaces and 59 loading docks at the site. The Planning Board approved a resolution recommending those minimum parking levels and referring the matter to the ZBA.
Joshua Garofano, of Bluewater Property Group, said the requested minimum equals the amount project planners believe is needed, but more spaces could be added to the plans as the review process progresses, subject to approval by the Planning Board.
There is additional space available at the site to expand parking in the future should the need arise. If that occurred after the project was approved, developers would need to return to the board for additional approval.
At this stage, Viele said the initial plans appear to be following town zoning laws, although more details and studies will be forthcoming as the review process continues.
“I think, if they give me everything that we've discussed, I think I'll have all my answers. The public hearing and hearing the residents will really, that'll give me if I'm going to have more questions or not,” Viele said.
