Opponents of Amazon’s ‘mega warehouse’ organize

E-commerce giant Amazon is looking to build one of the country’s largest warehouses near the merge of Veterans Memorial Highway and Sunrise Highway in Holbrook. Some nearby residents are organizing a campaign against the proposed $1 billion, 4.2-million-square-foot Amazon facility due to environmental and quality-of-life concerns.

The Parkland Civic Association, which represents the neighborhood north of the proposed facility, hosted a meeting with neighbors at the Holbrook Fire Department Headquarters on Aug. 10, where around 200 residents addressed their concerns about the project.

Among the issues raised by residents were increased traffic and road safety concerns, potential pollution and the destruction of wildlife on the 140-acre forested site, which, according to Parkland Civic Association members, serves as a groundwater recharge area leading to the Sans Souci lakes and the Great South Bay.

“This will be a disaster,” said Kerry Bassett, Parkland Civic Association board member. “Three hundred trucks, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. So we’re talking about light pollution, noise pollution, emissions, water pollution.”

Parkland Civic Association board members clarified that they aren’t against Amazon itself, only the current proposed facility.

Newsday first reported Amazon’s plans for the Holbrook facility, which would act as a “sortable fulfillment center” where items would be stored for inventory pending sale. Newsday also reported that Amazon would seek tax breaks from the Islip Industrial Development Agency and that, without them, the project would not proceed.

The facility, according to Amazon, would provide roughly 1,000 full-time jobs and $1 billion in local investment. Amazon said they have invested $2 billion across Long Island since 2010, with average salaries exceeding $23 per hour and total compensation averaging over $30 per hour, including health care, 401(k), and paid leave benefits.

The Suffolk County News reached out to Amazon with a list of questions regarding the project, including whether they required tax breaks, why they chose the site, and how they would connect with residents concerned about the project. Amazon responded with the following statement:

“We’re excited about plans to build the largest operations facility on Long Island that will bring about 1,000 full-time jobs to the community, where employees will work alongside advanced robotics and technology. We look forward to working with Islip and its residents to bring this project to life,” said Austin Stowe, Amazon spokesperson.

Amazon also confirmed they filed an application with the Town of Islip on July 16. According to Newsday, this application includes a change to the site’s zoning from a never-realized development district zoning back to its original industrial zoning.

“The applicant submitted a traffic study, however, at this point the application has not been deemed complete,” said a Town of Islip spokesperson on Aug. 11. “The applicant will be updating their submission and once it is deemed complete, the formal review process will start.”

The application, once completed, would go before the Town of Islip Planning Board, which can recommend to the Town Board whether to approve the zone change. If Amazon is seeking tax breaks, they will also have to go before the Islip Industrial Agency Board (Islip IDA), a move that residents at the Parkland Civic Association audience booed and groaned at.

“The [Sachem] School District is not going to reap a benefit if they get in a tax abatement because they won’t see the revenue,” Bassett said. “We should be giving tax abatements or deferrals of tax payments for small or medium-sized companies who are here and want to stay here or want to move into our community, not Amazon, which is a global corporation.”

Among the attendees at the public meeting this week were state assemblyman Doug Smith and Suffolk County Legis. Anthony Piccirillo, who echoed the concerns of their fellow Holbrook neighbors and encouraged residents to connect with elected officials.

“Please do call your representatives because I have to tell you, if I’m being honest, I’ve gotten fewer than five calls at my office on this,” Smith said. “Driving these roads every single day, all of your concerns are completely valid.”

Smith and Piccirillo said they met separately with Amazon officials in the days leading up to the public announcement last month and received little information. Piccirillo said a lawyer for Amazon remarked that the county legislator had “blown up the meeting” and that Amazon would “have a lot of trouble doing this.”

Piccirillo also said he was against the IDA as it stands, a stance he’s held throughout his time in office, and that he was working to reform the Suffolk County IDA by replacing three board members.

“When school taxes are evaded, it falls back onto the community,” Piccirillo said. “That’s really what we’ve been pinning down and trying to work on state legislation with the county to do that.”

Members of the Parkland Civic Association and the nearby Birchwood Estates Civic Association are beginning to organize volunteers to spread the word about their opposition to the Amazon facility, with signs to be made and interested residents attending upcoming town meetings.

“This is our home, and we have limited land as it is, limited roadways, limited drinking water,” said Parkland Civic Association board member Dianne Ungaro. “So we really, really are hoping that we’re going to get people to be involved in this.”