Braintree Amazon Distribution Center Gets Planning Board Approval

BRAINTREE, MA — Amazon now has the planning board’s blessing to move forward with a distribution center to be located at 175-185 Campanelli Dr.

The board unanimously approved the special permit in front of a nearly full Cahill Auditorium and several residents who voiced their opposition to the project. Plans for the 200,000-square-foot building call for the former United Liquors building to be used as a “last mile” distribution center for Amazon customers within 45 minutes of the facility. The proposal calls for an operation which would see about 85 employees arrive for work between 6-8 a.m. From 8 a.m. until 11 a.m., 56 delivery service providers will arrive every 30 minutes, park their cars, jump in delivery service vans, and drive into the building for their vans to be loaded with packages. Inside, the vans will be in four lines and released line by line to make deliveries.

The operation also includes flex drivers, which have been described as Uber-like workers who will drive their personal vehicles through the fulfillment center to pick up packages to deliver.

The approval comes with several conditions, including $1.2 million in traffic mitigation costs. The package includes upgrades to the traffic lights across the Granite Street corridor, which includes the South Shore Plaza and Five Corners, and possibly a new light at the intersection of Granite Street and Campanelli Drive. The upgrade would allow the impacted traffic lights along the road to communicate with each other, according to Melissa Santucci Rozzi, the assistant director of the town’s planning and community development office.

“I think is a really awesome technology and stands to improve that corridor,” board member Erin Joyce said.

Amazon officials said the building would add about 2,800 trips each day to an area known for traffic, but many residents felt the impact would be much worse.

“Are we just going to add more cars into the problem? We already know it’s a traffic hazard. To go from the industrial park to Five Corners is a traffic nightmare,” resident Robert Taylor said.

Councilor Stephen O’Brien spoke out against the proposal, citing the low quality of the jobs, the current traffic situation and the future impact of Petersen Pool, to be located nearby on the Braintree High School campus.

“I rise in opposition largely because the voice behind me is speaking in volume. I haven’t heard more than one person who is in support of this,” he said. “Amazon is a good company, these are not great jobs. This is not the Amazon office facility that everyone wants. These are non-high tech, low paying jobs.”

Michael Giaimo, an attorney for Amazon, said the company is aware of the traffic problems that plague Granite Street and is hoping that they can help solve the problem.

Board members also included conditions that would allow them to bring Amazon back in for a meeting if traffic remains an issue.

Image Credit: Dan Libon