Local Politics
  1. Home
  2. US
  3. Massachusetts
  4. Shrewsbury
  5. Issues

Amazon Prime Air Drone Delivery

At a glance

  • Where it stands: the Select Board voted 5-0 on Oct 20, 2026 to sign the joint letter to the FAA.
  • What: a presentation on Amazon drone delivery on Sept 23, 2026; the issue is also hot in neighboring Westborough, where voters passed a drone bylaw (see Amazon Prime Air Drone Hub in Westborough).
  • Oct 13, 2026: the board voted unanimously to send a letter to Amazon (with four added requests); see 2026-10-13 - Select Board. Draft Article 3 of the Dec 7 Special Town Meeting would regulate drone facility land use (December 2026 Special Town Meeting).
  • Video: 2026-09-23 - Amazon Prime Air Drone Delivery Presentation.
  • Finance Committee (Oct 15): draft zoning article is still being written with town counsel; public safety and municipal drones would be exempt.

Sources

Discussion time

About 12 minutes across 4 meetings (from transcript timestamps; approximate).

Meeting Minutes
2026-10-20 - Select Board 2
2026-10-15 - Finance Committee 2
2026-10-13 - Select Board 6
2026-09-08 - Select Board 2

Log

  • 2026-10-21 - Page created from public town materials and news coverage (retrieved 2026-10-21); no meeting transcript processed yet. Ranking of issues is inferred from committee activity.
  • 2026-10-20 - 2026-10-20 - Select Board: at a special remote meeting the Select Board voted 5-0 to sign a joint letter with Westborough asking the FAA for a site-specific environmental assessment of the Prime Air operation. Five communities had signed by then (Westborough, Grafton, Marlborough, Hopkinton, Upton).
  • 2026-10-15 - 2026-10-15 - Finance Committee: Kevin Mizikar told the Finance Committee that the state senators and members of Congress sent a letter asking the FAA for a site-specific review of the Westborough facility, and that the draft Article 3 zoning bylaw on aviation facilities is still with town counsel; it would regulate commercial drone launch sites and exempt municipal and public safety use. Planning Board hearing given as Nov 4 (other pages say Nov 5). About 2 minutes.
  • 2026-10-13 - 2026-10-13 - Select Board: Carlos A. Garcia proposed a Select Board letter asking Amazon to pause its rollout; Gregg Richards added four asks (public hearing before the board, published flight hours and daily volume for Shrewsbury, aircraft noise data, local point of contact). A member raised UMass Memorial medical helicopter flight paths; Kevin Mizikar said medical operators are engaged and drones will be excluded from those paths. Approved unanimously with the amendments. The draft December warrant also includes a zoning bylaw on aviation facilities and unmanned aerial systems (land use only; flight is federally regulated).
  • 2026-10-01 - 2026-10-01 - Planning Board: Planning Board previewed the commercial drone delivery zoning bylaw (landing pad siting and noise standards; flight operations are federal).
  • 2026-09-22 - 2026-09-22 - Select Board: Kevin Mizikar told the board Amazon had scheduled an in-person Prime Air community briefing for Sept 23 at a Westborough hotel (the launch site is in Westborough).
  • 2026-09-30 - 2026-09-30 - Ask The Manager: the town manager said the FAA controls the airspace and the town is considering zoning changes for launch and landing sites.
  • 2026-09-08 - 2026-09-08 - Select Board: the board referred a draft zoning bylaw on drone launch and landing sites (land use only; flight is federally regulated) to the Planning Board, together with the data center bylaw.
  • 2026-08-11 - 2026-08-11 - Select Board: Mizikar said the town learned of Amazon Prime Air plans for Shrewsbury only in the past few weeks, indirectly through Amazon's communications with regional law enforcement. Air traffic falls under federal aviation rules; the town can regulate the ground side (landings, takeoffs, use of municipal property, zoning districts). He suggested a future town meeting to amend bylaws before Amazon starts. No vote.
  • 2026-08-04 - 2026-08-04 - Select Board Workshop: Workshop: the board noted the town cannot regulate flight patterns but may regulate landing areas, noise, nuisance and privacy, and asked for a meeting with Amazon about drones from its Westborough facility.
  • 2026-09-23 - 2026-09-23 - Amazon Prime Air Drone Delivery Presentation: Amazon's community briefing and question session on the Westborough station (about six drones, 175-square-mile area, a cap of 1,000 deliveries a day); Select Board members Sharma and Garcia and many residents questioned noise, privacy, wildlife, local authority and the lack of notice to neighboring towns. No votes.
  • 2026-10-27 - 2026-10-27 - Select Board Meeting: board joined 15 towns in an October 20 FAA letter seeking site-specific environmental review; Amazon acknowledged it.