Schoharie Makes Amazon Decision

By Joshua Walther

SCHOHARIE - During a special meeting on Tuesday evening, the Schoharie Planning Board took the time to review their declaration of approval on Amazon’s proposed amendments to the Highbridge site plan and special use permit.

The amendments, which would allow Amazon to build a “last mile facility” to expedite the delivery of goods within the county and beyond, were first brought to the Board several months ago.

Deliberations have continued since then, with Amazon reporting that their warehouse would show overall decreased impact from Highbridge’s project in areas like water runoff, noise, light, and traffic.

Some members of the public found outrage in the proposal, while others still saw the hope of economic growth and job opportunities. The Board, however, made it clear that they had to vote by following the laws of Schoharie, not personal bias.

Last month, after finding little reason to deny Amazon’s amendments when they had already approved Highbridge’s higher impact plan in the past, the Planning Board asked their attorney Dave Brennan to draft a declaration of approval with Mike Harrington from Lamont Engineers.

The declaration outlines the project’s history, its SEQRA process and Amazon’s submitted content, and it also provides conditions of approval that must be met, otherwise they could be enforced in court.

Many of the conditions relate to the landscaping and screening of the facility from Route 30A and the highway, with Condition 11 saying “Applicant shall prune trees as necessary to prevent ‘valley screening’ from Interstate 88.” and Condition 12 noting “Applicant shall post financial security … such that all planted trees and landscaping are alive and viable after five years from planting.”

Further, Condition 14 says “All vegetated areas as shown … outside the limit of disturbance line shall not be removed or disturbed.”

Others relate to traffic and Amazon’s line-haul and delivery drivers, with Conditions 6 and 7 saying “The Amazon Yard Marshalls shall enforce the prohibition on the idling of trucks for longer than five minutes” and “The warehouse facility will contain facilities for drivers including rest rooms and a breakroom so that drivers … are able to turn off their vehicles and enter the facility to stay warm in the winter and cool in the summer.”

Finally, many of the other conditions relate back to conforming to the approval of other Town entities like the Zoning Board of Appeals and the Town Board, so that Amazon doesn’t have full reign past the Planning Board’s authority.

Once the Board asked for clarification from both Attorney Brennan and Mr. Harrington, the final approval was almost halted by Chair Kathryn Saddlemire, who brought up that Amazon’s proposed side-of-building sign was subject to Planning Board approval under their zoning and land use laws rather than a building inspector, as had been thought previously.

The law in question states that a non-pole sign within commercial zoning must fit within thirty two square feet, and there was a momentary scramble to figure out the exact specifications of the sign.

After reasoning that Amazon and its developer wouldn’t have submitted non-conforming specifications, Attorney Brennan suggested that they amend the declaration under Condition 9 to say “Site signage shall be … in conformance with land use law 4.2-3 titled ‘Signs.’”

Once the confusion was cleared, the Board proceeded with the declaration and moved to approve the site amendments in a 3-0 vote yes, with members Lisa Shaul and Andrew Rowles absent from the special meeting.

The Board explained that their next steps will be to file the declaration with the Town Clerk and distribute the motion to the applicant and the public before making it official with County Planning.

FSI Solutions, the developer for Amazon’s warehouse, thanked the Board profusely for their work, and said that they will focus on obtaining building permits and working out a construction schedule over the winter, then begin to break ground in early 2026.