Breaking News: It’s Back! Massive Amazon Distribution Project Reemerges Seeking Height Exemption

SLATE HILL—Two months after some believed it was dealt a death blow by the town’s Zoning Board of Appeals, Scannell Properties’ plan to build a 3.2-million-square-foot Amazon distribution center re-emerged last night before the Town of Wawayanda Planning Board, seeking a height exemption the developer says it can be granted under the Town Code.

In fact, the strategy has initially paid off as the height exemption application for the estimated $607-million project will be debated at a requested-for Planning Board public hearing next month.

On June 12, the Town of Wawayanda’s Zoning Board of Appeals voted unanimously (4-0) to reject a needed height variance for the Amazon project. While some observers indicated the project was killed by the ZBA, neither Amazon nor Scannell officially withdrew the project. Instead, Scannell officials told the Wawayanda Planning Board last night (Aug. 13) that Town Code 195-13 specifically allows for a project to be granted a height exemption if its fire-fighting capacity is sufficient and if its property buffers are greater than required.

Matt Boone, development manager of Indianapolis, IN-based Scannell Properties, testified before the Planning Board that the project meets both exemption requirements and that its fire suppression system had recently been approved by the Department of State.

In terms of setbacks, Boone noted that the project offers setbacks that are anywhere between 650% to 2,000% greater than the setback requirements by the town.

The Scannell project, also known as “Project Bluebird,” had already received a favorable negative declaration by the Planning Board on June 11 on its requested special use permit, but the project failed to garner the necessary height variance (from 35 feet to approximately 66 feet) from the ZBA to allow it to proceed any further.

After going into executive session to discuss Scannell’s request for a Sept. 10 public hearing in connection with its amended site plan in reference to the height exemption and a referral for the height matter to be reviewed by the Orange County Planning Department, the Planning Board unanimously granted both requests.

Planning Board Chairman John Razzano said the Scannell application for height exemption after being denied by the ZBA for a variance is something he has never seen during his time on the board.

Boone of Scannell had no comment on its plans and the factors that led it to go before the Planning Board with its height exemption requests. It is possible that the Planning Board could grant the necessary height exemption and special use permit approval for the project in the coming months.

The controversial project proposed by a partnership of Scannell Properties and Amazon Services, LLC, is considered to be among the largest ever private investment projects in Orange County. The plan calls for the construction of a five-story, 3.2-million-square-foot Amazon robotic fulfillment/distribution center in Slate Hill. Each floor (two below grade and three above grade) would total approximately 600,000 square feet. The project is also under review by the Orange County Industrial Development Agency.

The Scannell-Amazon venture is currently seeking state and local sales tax exemptions from the Orange County IDA of up to $18,821,250 for qualified expenditures of up to $250 million and another $12,187,500 for state and local sales taxes in connection with other qualified expenditures of up to $150 million, putting the proposed total exemptions at more than $31 million. The venture will also be seeking a PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) with the Minisink School District and other taxing jurisdictions.

Back in 2023, Scannell and Amazon secured approvals for a 900,000-square-foot warehouse at the 22 McBride Road site, but eventually submitted a much larger proposal. The 100-acre property is currently an active quarry.