The fight over Amazon in Gorham has moved from the town hall to the courthouse. A group of residents called Gorham United has filed an appeal in Cumberland County Superior Court asking a judge to overturn the Planning Board's approval of a proposed Amazon distribution facility of about 146,000 square feet on Main Street, also known as Route 25.
According to Maine Public, the residents argue the approved site plan doesn't meet town development codes and land use standards on traffic, road capacity, access, stormwater, noise and other impacts. WGME reported the complaint also says the applicant failed to show wetlands and natural drainage would be adequately protected, and asks the court to send the project back for more review if needed.
"Our reason for getting into this fight is that we care about our community," Josh Trombley, an organizer with Gorham United, told Maine Public. "We think that this project is not a good fit, that it's going to bring a lot of significant negative impacts."
"The town needs to hold every developer to the same standard and hold them to the standards that we've set out in our ordinances," he said.
How we got here
The Gorham Planning Board voted unanimously, 5-0, to approve the project on Sept. 14, according to the Gorham Times. The plans call for a 146,280-square-foot "last mile" warehouse east of the town center. The developer is Bluewater Property Group, and the site plan was presented by engineer Chris Taylor of Sebago Technics.
The town bought the 94-acre parcel off Main Street and Shamrock Drive after a November 2019 referendum, intending to sell it to a developer that could bring industrial business and property tax revenue. Town councilors have said several offers fell through over the years. Last summer, the town sold the land to Amazon for $4 million, Maine Public reported.
Traffic is the biggest sticking point. Gorham United, citing Amazon's own traffic study, says the facility would generate more than 3,000 vehicle trips a day. The group is also collecting signatures for a citizen petition that would put a six-month moratorium on industrial projects generating more than 1,500 average daily trips. Trombley said if enough signatures come in, the Town Council could adopt the moratorium or send it to a special election.
Amazon says the project will be good for Gorham. Maine Public reported Amazon has said the facility will bring 170 jobs. In a statement to NEWS CENTER Maine, Amazon spokesperson Austin Stowe put it at "more than 150 full- and part-time jobs," and said the company had completed "independent traffic, sound, and environmental studies" and changed the plan based on resident feedback.
State permits still in the mix
Local approval isn't the only hurdle. Amazon applied to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection for a Site Location of Development Act permit and a Natural Resources Protection Act permit, and the Gorham Times reported in July that DEP planned to make its decision by Sept. 21. As of Maine Public's Oct. 15 story, Amazon still needed environmental and traffic permits from the state before the project could proceed. A court timeline hasn't been announced.
Not everyone at the public meetings was opposed. At a July DEP hearing in Gorham, the Gorham Times reported, two labor union representatives spoke in favor, citing the jobs projects like this provide their members. At the Planning Board's July hearing, supporters pointed to work for construction trades and tax revenue, though opponents far outnumbered them.
Gorham isn't Maine's only Amazon project. The company's first Maine facility opened in Caribou last year, construction is underway on a warehouse in Hermon, and Waterville and Sidney have approved a distribution warehouse that straddles their shared line.
Why it matters for Contractors
A 146,280-square-foot distribution building is a major commercial job, with heavy site work, stormwater systems, paving, steel, concrete, roofing and electrical. That's work a lot of southern Maine site and commercial contractors would want. No general contractor has been named publicly, and the appeal, the moratorium petition and pending state permits all add uncertainty to the timeline. Residential contractors should watch it too. The same arguments over traffic, stormwater and neighborhood fit come up every time a big project lands in a growing town, and how the court rules could shape how Gorham handles big projects going forward.