2026-08-18 - Select Board - Amazon Drone Delivery Service

00:05Um next, item number three, site plan

00:07review for Amazon drone delivery

00:09service, 64 Otis Street. And we have

00:12folks from Amazon here this evening.

00:23>> First test.

00:25>> Take your time.

00:29>> Screen up.

00:30>> Activated.

00:31>> Chrissy.

00:32>> Reminder. There you go. Yeah.

00:34>> She's She's running.

00:35>> Oh, look at that.

00:37>> [clears throat]

00:40>> Good evening, chair.

00:41Members of the board, thank you for

00:42having us this evening. My name is

00:44Jonathan Greely and I serve as Amazon's

00:46head of economic development here in New

00:47England, based in Boston. My role is to

00:49help Amazon think about how we grow and

00:51operate, partnering with communities

00:52across the Commonwealth, including right

00:53here in Westborough.

00:55I want to start by uh sharing a little

00:57bit about Amazon's presence in

00:58Massachusetts before I third turn before

00:59I turn things over to our primary team,

01:01who will walk you through our plans for

01:0264 Otis Street.

01:04Amazon has been a part of Massachusetts

01:06since 2010. In that time, we've invested

01:08more than 35 billion dollars in the

01:09Commonwealth, including infrastructure

01:11and employee compensation. That

01:12investment has contributed over 30

01:14billion dollars to the state's GDP.

01:16Today, Amazon directly employs more than

01:1824,000 full-time uh part-time workers

01:20across the state, including more than

01:221,500 here in Westborough.

01:23Uh beyond our own workforce, our

01:25operations support additional 20,000

01:27plus indirect jobs in industries like

01:28construction, uh logistics, and

01:30professional services, the suppliers and

01:32partners that we rely on every single

01:34day.

01:35We operate across a range of facilities

01:36here in the state, nine fulfillment

01:38centers and sortation centers, 16

01:40delivery stations, 32 Whole Food

01:41Markets, and many more.

01:43Westborough holds a special place in

01:44Amazon's story here in this

01:45Commonwealth. Uh it's home to Amazon

01:47Robotics, where our teams design, build,

01:50and test robots that help us deliver for

01:51our customers across the world. Over the

01:53past 12 years, more than 1 million

01:55robots have been produced here in North

01:57Reading um to fuel our logistics

01:59operations.

02:00Westborough is also home to SMA 1, the

02:02logistics facility that we'll be

02:03discussing here tonight. In short, this

02:05is a community where Amazon has deep

02:07roots. We're not just passing through,

02:09we're part of your neighbor.

02:10That brings me tonight's presentation.

02:12We're excited to share with you the next

02:13chapter of Amazon's story in

02:14Westborough. I'd like to introduce the

02:16primary team. We'll take you through the

02:17details and we're happy to answer any

02:18questions you may have over the course

02:20of the evening. Thank you very much.

02:21>> Thank you.

02:22It's Jonathan.

02:26>> Good evening, chairman, members of the

02:27board. Uh Tarc Wafai, also with Amazon's

02:30economic development team, and I cover

02:32and lead our efforts for our primary

02:34drone delivery program. Jonathan gave a

02:37great introduction. We are the most

02:39customer-centric company in the world.

02:42And as part of that, we're constantly

02:44innovating, and Westborough, Mass has

02:46been exactly that type of beacon of

02:49innovation that we're looking for. We've

02:51been able to test, develop, deliver for

02:54our customers, scale those programs

02:56across the network, and it's been really

02:58successful and quite fun, to be quite

03:00frank.

03:01So, I've got some folks from our

03:03Kimley-Horn team here as well. We've got

03:06Bill and John Little, both joining us.

03:08Um they were helping us with our our

03:10site plan documents, but I want to spend

03:12just some time walking you through the

03:14concept. This is fairly new to a lot of

03:16communities that we're operating in, and

03:19so I want to give you some of those

03:20high-level details, make sure we spend

03:22plenty of time answering any initial

03:24questions you might have.

03:26So, our mission, other than satisfying

03:30our demands of our customers and

03:31continuing to deliver and innovate for

03:33them, is safety first. We do everything

03:36with safety and privacy in mind. That is

03:39at the epicenter of all of our different

03:41programs that we're operating across the

03:43entire company, and this is a really

03:45exciting one as we continue to increase

03:49the speed of delivery,

03:51which started at several days, then came

03:54down to a couple days, and then turned

03:55into next day, and now we've been doing

03:58same-day delivery right here in

03:59Westborough

04:01for a long time. Now we can deliver in

04:0360 minutes or less to those customers,

04:06often times hitting that 30-minute or

04:08less mark by way of Prime Air drone. But

04:12we can't do that successfully if we're

04:14not doing that in a safe way. So this

04:17brainchild of Mr. Bezos himself in 2013,

04:21um it has taken that long for us to get

04:23this up and running. Why? Because we

04:25brought everything in house. We designed

04:27a system, we designed an aircraft, we

04:29made sure the right people, the right

04:31engineers were on board to make sure

04:32that we were the safest company out

04:34there doing commercial drone operations.

04:37And we're doing just that in several

04:38places across the country right now with

04:41many others

04:43uh to come before the end of this year.

04:45I'm not going to list all of them on the

04:46screen here, but that photograph is from

04:49our Tolleson, Arizona site. That has

04:51been a very successful drone delivery

04:53program. Immediately abutting a

04:56residential neighborhood, but we have

04:58found a way to integrate into that

05:00community. Our vertical takeoff and

05:02landing has been a very minimal

05:04disruption for them, and we are doing

05:05tens and thou- tens of thousands of

05:07deliveries per month across our network.

05:14What does the drone look like, and how

05:16does this work? We get a lot of these

05:18questions, so I'll I'll try to tease

05:20them up as as much as I I can here. Um

05:23the drone is about 5 and 1/2 ft tall and

05:25about 5 ft wide. Why is that? It's a

05:28six-blade system. It flies both

05:30vertically for ascent and landing, but

05:33also forward flight up to 74 mph. So

05:36this is a serious aircraft built with

05:39all of the

05:40most up-to-date safety standards. With

05:42that, it can hold a payload of up to

05:44about 5 lb, which happens to be about

05:4760% of all of the products that we

05:49deliver out of our fulfillment centers

05:51today. So, if you look back into your

05:53order history, if you're a customer,

05:55um most of those items are likely under

05:575 lb and could fit into a shoe box and

06:00thereby be eligible for this drone

06:02delivery program. Um our delivery

06:05service range, and I've got a map later

06:07on in this presentation that shows that,

06:09but essentially we would be delivering

06:10to customers within 7 and 1/2 miles from

06:14SMA 1, our same-day delivery station on

06:17Otis Street. We have figured out a lot

06:19of quirks along the way. This is our

06:22second iteration of the drone. It's the

06:24quietest, it's the safest, and it can

06:27operate at very low temperatures and

06:29very high temperatures. So, we're

06:31delivering, like I said, in Tolleson,

06:33Arizona, which right now, um

06:35not the greatest place to be unless you

06:37really like a a dry heat. Um and then we

06:39can deliver in very cold temperatures

06:41down to 14°. We can deliver in light

06:44rain and light wind. Um so, this has

06:47been a a major design uh to get to this

06:50Mark 40 drone for us to be be able to

06:52deliver for our customers in lots of

06:54different physical environments. It's

06:56100% autonomous and 100% electric. So,

07:00we use a lithium-ion battery to power

07:02the drone in flight. We charge those

07:04batteries every time there's a flight to

07:07make sure each flight begins with a full

07:09battery charge. Um and these are just

07:12really fun to interact with, really fun

07:14to watch them fly, and really fun to get

07:17a delivery from them.

07:19Some of the advanced features that are

07:21kind of setting us apart from some of

07:23the other commercial drone operators out

07:26there is that it's autonomous operations

07:28with local drone monitors. So, these

07:31flights are pre-programmed to deliver

07:33every flight path to each one of our

07:35primary drone customers within that 7

07:38and 1/2 mile radius. It's an optional

07:40program, but we have developed the

07:43system so that it flies automatically

07:45along a a charted path with the ability

07:48to use the scanning tech technique that

07:50it it has built in our detect and avoid

07:53technology that we have developed that

07:55allow it mid-course to make adjustments

07:58as a necessary. If it sees an

08:00unregistered aircraft in the sky, it is

08:03going to

08:05create a system error that would tell it

08:08to make a maneuver and avoid that

08:11collision. So, really special technology

08:13that we've developed.

08:16And it does have the ability to detect

08:18anything on the ground as it's making

08:21that delivery. So, if a toddler runs out

08:23and I'll show you a picture of what that

08:25looks like

08:26as we're making a customer delivery.

08:28>> [clears throat]

08:29>> The FAA manages the airspace as you well

08:33know. And so, everything I want to talk

08:36to you about tonight is about our entire

08:38program, but we have been very fortunate

08:41working with Fred and Laura and town

08:44manager Williams and Amanda here to help

08:46us get to this point. I'm going to

08:48explain what's on the ground at our

08:50facility, but also want to talk to you

08:53about the other regulatory piece, which

08:54is what happens in the sky once one of

08:57our aircraft leaves the ground. And that

08:59is all managed through the FAA. We are a

09:03part 135 air carrier certificate. That

09:06is just like UPS, FedEx, ourselves, our

09:10Amazon air cargo system. We hold the

09:12same certification that those operators

09:14hold for their aircraft. And so, we're

09:16very proud of that. This drone met met a

09:19a rigorous design review concept through

09:22the FAA to get to that point. And

09:25because of that,

09:26we are approved to take off from a lot

09:29of these different facilities. There's

09:31still more review ahead to be done.

09:34While we're going through local land use

09:36approvals, which we're doing tonight,

09:39um and and more to come, we are also in

09:42the background working with other

09:43airspace users in the region.

09:46So, we've had our regulatory air air air

09:49affairs team reaching out. We've talked

09:51to Chief Minardi. We've talked to the

09:53fire marshal. We've been working with a

09:55lot of emergency responders and heliport

09:58operators and medical centers within the

10:007 and 1/2 mile delivery service area to

10:03make sure that we're deconflicting

10:06That is important to us. What we don't

10:08want to do is start delivering too early

10:11before we've had those conversations and

10:13have the system grounded because we

10:15didn't do the due diligence. So, we

10:16flipped that on its head. We never start

10:18operating until we have full clearance

10:20through the FAA until they've gone

10:22through their robust environmental

10:24analysis, which they do for every site,

10:27which is a public process that reviews

10:29are there sensitive receptors, are there

10:31environmental conditions that exist

10:33within that delivery service service

10:35radius that should be cared for in a

10:38different way.

10:39And in all of our current operations, it

10:41has come back to say

10:43no significant impact in those areas.

10:46Why is that? It's because we're able to

10:48deconflict around those areas. Where an

10:51air airport exists, we establish a no

10:54fly zone. Where wildlife corridors

10:56exist, they're important to the

10:58community, we establish a no fly zone so

11:01that our drones are not interacting in

11:02the in those environments. But, it's a

11:05robust process. It is still many many

11:08weeks ahead um

11:10on the heels and somewhat concurrently

11:12with our land use approval process, but

11:15we're just excited to be um

11:17on the path uh for eventually um

11:20planning on delivering here at in

11:22Westborough and your neighbors.

11:25What does this look like as a customer?

11:27So, if you're an Amazon customer now,

11:29most of you are ordering through the app

11:31on your phone or from your personal

11:33device or your laptop. When you pull up

11:35the app, you might notice, if you click

11:38on a particular product, it will say

11:40this could be delivered Today it

11:42probably says within two to three hours

11:45for a small surcharge. Well, this will

11:47be an addition to that. As a Prime Air

11:49customer, if that item is eligible for

11:52drone delivery, less than 5 lb, can fit

11:54in a shoe box, you're within the 7 and

11:561/2 mile radius,

11:58it will alert you that you're eligible

11:59for drone delivery. This is an optional

12:01service. You don't have to be a Prime

12:03Air drone customer,

12:05uh but if you opt into it, uh we work

12:07with you to establish those landing

12:09areas on your property to make sure that

12:12you've got basically a 100-ft tall 18-ft

12:16wide cylinder

12:18that would allow us to safely descend

12:21vertically and drop the package for you.

12:24Um there is a premium if you're a Prime

12:26Air customer, it's $2.99. If you're not

12:28a Prime Air customer, it's $4.99, but

12:30again, optional service.

12:32What happens is you would click on that

12:34item if you're already a Prime Air

12:36customer, an employee in our warehouse

12:38would walk that item out to the Prime

12:41Air drone delivery center and bring it

12:44into the restricted area where we store

12:46and charge our drones, and a different

12:49associate would load that package into

12:51the rear of the aircraft, and then it

12:53would begin its descent once everything

12:56is cleared by our flight monitors, and

12:58make its way to the customer's house.

13:00All of this happens in many cases in

13:02about 30 minutes time from you clicking

13:04order to it arriving in your yard. So,

13:08pretty sensational stuff here.

13:10Um

13:10I mentioned that our our batteries are

13:12charged on site. We have um

13:15we're working with a vendor now that

13:16have uh built battery vaults for us to

13:19charge those batteries on site safely.

13:22Of course, this will be a a big

13:23condition working with the fire

13:24department to make sure that they have

13:26all of the specs on those products to

13:29make sure that there are no incidents

13:30and when there are we can take care of

13:32them immediately.

13:33Um, I want to show you just a little bit

13:35more about what this looks like because

13:37we get a lot of questions.

13:39Yes, the aircraft has capability to do

13:42forward flight at very high speed, but

13:44at the beginning from our fulfillment

13:46center it is vertically taking off to

13:49about 100 feet or more be before it

13:52begins its transition to forward flight.

13:55So, that has been the best way for us to

13:58be good neighbors both at um takeoff

14:01from the fulfillment center and at

14:02landing at the customer's house. Get as

14:05high as you can in the sky as quickly as

14:08possible before you begin forward

14:10flight. And then when it reaches

14:11cruising altitude, we're at an altitude

14:14of about 205 to 370 feet on the way back

14:18and forth to the customer. And at that

14:21it's almost imperceptible if you're

14:23indoors at those cruising altitudes. You

14:26can hear it if you're within about 500

14:28feet of the takeoff or landing, but it'd

14:30be about normal conversation. It would

14:33be about holding a an electric

14:35toothbrush out at arm's length.

14:38Um, and again, if you're indoors, you're

14:40likely not going to hear that. If you're

14:41outdoors, you would likely hear that

14:43delivery uh during about a 20 to

14:4525-second

14:47time period as that customer is

14:49receiving that package.

14:52And I mentioned this already, but our

14:54drone is unique in that it does not

14:56disrupt what's happening on the ground.

14:58Instead, we hover at about 13 feet above

15:01the landing zone and drop the package

15:04there. You might think "How is that

15:07safe? How is that going to manage what's

15:10in the box?" We have found most of our

15:12items to be able to be delivered by

15:14drone. If they're not, if if we are

15:17concerned about the items in that

15:18package, then it would not be eligible

15:20for drone delivery. We're delivering

15:22iPads, iPhones, AirPods, all of the

15:25electronics,

15:26um glass bottles of salad dressing, lots

15:29of other things that you might wonder,

15:30how do we do that by drone? It's the way

15:32we package our materials. This has been

15:34tested over a very long period of time.

15:37And because of our um

15:39avoid and detect detect and avoid

15:41technology, if we are descending from

15:44that 100 ft to the customer's yard,

15:47where they have designated their landing

15:48zone, and we see a toddler or a

15:52Bernedoodle or whatever your favorite

15:54breed of animal is, um if we see that

15:56running into the space where we are

15:58attempting to make delivery, um it will

16:00cancel the mission and automatically

16:03return to the station. So, this will go

16:06right back to our our um same-day

16:08delivery station on Otis and notify the

16:11customer, "Sorry, we were unable to make

16:13delivery. We can attempt again by drone

16:15potentially, depending on the time of

16:17day, or we'll send a vehicle out like

16:19you're currently experiencing today for

16:21those same-day deliveries."

16:23When the customer signs up,

16:25we have lidar imagery that's good to

16:28about 2 cm.

16:31So, it is very accurate lidar that we

16:34review on a constant basis

16:36to say, "Okay, if you want to be a

16:38customer, let's find a couple of landing

16:40zones, two or three, on your property."

16:42Some of our customers only have one, but

16:44you can designate front yard, backyard,

16:47on the driveway, and that's what you see

16:48at the left here, is those particular

16:50customer landing zones. When you order a

16:53package, you select which of those

16:55landing zones you want that particular

16:57delivery to come to, and the drone

16:59already knows what to do at that point.

17:05I talked a little bit about the noise,

17:06so this is just a a graphic depicting

17:08that. Again, it's at its loudest point

17:10during takeoff, and most of our

17:13facilities, as you know, are located in

17:15the highly industrial areas.

17:17If a truck was idling on a street

17:19nearby,

17:20you're not going to hear the drone. That

17:22is much louder than a drone. If a

17:24delivery van pulls up to your house and

17:26is idling as they're making that

17:28delivery to your home, that is also

17:30about the same level of noise that a

17:32drone would make for about 15 to 20

17:34seconds as it's descending it to that

17:37delivery point for our customer before

17:39it returns to the station to do it all

17:41over again.

17:47Okay. So, why are we here tonight? Let's

17:50talk about the land use component, but I

17:51I thought that might be helpful context

17:53for you all. Um

17:55we call it the Paddock. It's our Prime

17:57Air drone delivery center, and this

17:59consists of several things that I'll

18:00zoom in on in a couple of slides here.

18:03It's the launchpads where we are taking

18:05off with each drone. It's the battery

18:07charging and storage. How are we keeping

18:09those batteries safe when they're not

18:11being used? How are we charging them?

18:13Usually in less than 45 minutes to get

18:15back to full charge. Um that takes a lot

18:18of power. And so, how do we do that on

18:20site? And then we have an entire team

18:22dedicated to flight monitoring and

18:23operations. These are folks that all

18:25have their Part 107 commercial drone

18:27operator certificate through the FAA.

18:30It's a special program.

18:32We love to train our current employees

18:34and elevate their current warehouse

18:36experience into a new certified

18:38technical role. So, we have great

18:40success in doing that. That doesn't

18:42always happen. We are taking a lot of

18:45um

18:45ex- uh Boeing engineers. We have a a lot

18:48of other commercial drone operators that

18:50have come to Amazon with with interest

18:52in being part of this really innovative

18:54program. And then, the other component

18:57is how we're storing the drones. So,

18:59when they're not in use, these are

19:01expensive vehicles. So, we we need to

19:02make sure that we're keeping them safe

19:04when they're sitting out there on the

19:05site.

19:07So, zooming out high level, this is the

19:09star is on our our 64 Otis Street

19:11facility, SMA 1 we call it. Basically,

19:14same-day facility in Massachusetts, the

19:16first of its kind. That's where the the

19:18nomenclature comes from. And then as we

19:20zoom in,

19:21um

19:22this yellow box indicates the general

19:24area where we have located our proposed

19:27Prime Air drone delivery center.

19:30So, this is

19:31closest to Otis Road here.

19:34And then away from the forested area and

19:36the truck yard here. So, near the front

19:38of the building. And as we zoom in onto

19:41the site plan, uh we can see that the

19:43folks, if I come back here, a an

19:46employee will walk out of these doors

19:48here, or sorry, here,

19:51and walk down the sidewalk.

19:55Oh, my mouse doesn't show up. Okay.

19:56Well, this is fine.

19:58Um

19:59so, an employee would walk out into the

20:01site using all of the existing

20:03crosswalks. We're going to add

20:04crosswalks, too, and speed bumps, just

20:06to make sure we're reducing any

20:08potential pedestrian and vehicle

20:10conflicts in that that parking area.

20:12They would walk that package out to the

20:14secured Prime Air drone delivery center.

20:17You see three trailers there. One is for

20:19our command center. So, we'll have a

20:21couple of flight monitors out there.

20:24Their job is not to monitor video or

20:26camera images. They're looking at it

20:28like you would if you were an FAA

20:30employee in a flight tower. So, they see

20:33in real time plan view, blips on the map

20:36that are showing radar of all aircraft

20:39in the area. Even though these are

20:41autonomous aircraft that are

20:43pre-programmed to deconflict with other

20:45airspace users, we do have the added

20:48safety feature of monitoring every

20:51single one of our flights. So, that if

20:52we need to make a judgment call, um we

20:55can do that. And we often hear from a

20:57lot of communities that have drone as a

20:59first responder program, um through

21:02police and fire and others, uh they're

21:05using drones as well.

21:07Our communication system upon day one of

21:09operations allows them to have immediate

21:11contact with our team to ground our

21:14operations as needed. If there's

21:16criminal activity, if there's a big fire

21:19somewhere and we just need to avoid an

21:20area entirely, we can ground our fleet

21:23within seconds. So, it's a really good

21:25program that we have set up. Those are

21:27our flight monitors making sure things

21:29go well. We're charging batteries um in

21:32other trailers. We are storing drones in

21:35the other trailer. And this is all to be

21:37very nimble on the site. If a major

21:40weather event were to happen, we can

21:42easily move some of those drones to the

21:45interior of the building. We have space

21:47to do that. But during operations, which

21:49are during daylight hours um civil

21:52twilight hours, basically sunrise to

21:54sundown is when we're we're operating

21:56out of this this outdoor paddock.

21:59We have a dedicated launch

22:01circle that you see there on on the the

22:03left, and then a dedicated landing

22:06circle, which is on the right. So,

22:08there's never conflicts between our

22:10drones that are taking off and our

22:11drones that are landing.

22:13If we encounter a problem in the sky for

22:16any reason, if if a drone sees a dog and

22:19has to come back to the station, it can

22:20normally come back to land. If we get a

22:23signal on our drone that um a propeller

22:26is running hot for some reason or or any

22:29type of issue on the aircraft itself, it

22:32will land on a divert pad outside of

22:34that general area so that we can run a

22:37full inspection of that aircraft and

22:39target exactly what the problem might

22:41be. Our aircraft are automatically

22:44trained to go back to station when

22:46something um is not right. And so, it's

22:49just all of those added safety features.

22:51So, this whole system is about 6,800

22:56square feet in total in our existing

22:58parking area. There's no additional um

23:01impervious area added to the site. We're

23:04doing this in our existing parking. We

23:06do lose 27 parking spots out of this,

23:09but we have a major surplus of parking

23:11at this site. So, we are we are not

23:14concerned about that. Our main concern

23:18is to make sure that we're doing this

23:19safely for our employees. So, that's why

23:21the design here is close enough to our

23:24building, but far enough away to allow

23:26those to go vertically as quickly as

23:28possible and on their way to the

23:30customer's house.

23:34I promised I would show you the service

23:35area. Here it is. That's a blue ring

23:38that represents 7 and 1/2 miles from our

23:40existing facility.

23:41Includes a lot of these different

23:43communities. Westborough, Northborough,

23:45Shrewsbury was mentioned earlier

23:47tonight. Worcester, I hope I said that

23:49right. And Grafton, a lot of those other

23:51communities that we are also talking to.

23:54If we haven't already talked to them,

23:56those meetings are taking place now and

23:58are in the works. We have a lot of

24:00stakeholder outreach to do and I want

24:02that to be the main message. We're

24:04taking our time here. Yes, we need land

24:06use approvals first and we're excited to

24:08meet with the planning board next month.

24:11And explain to them what we're we're

24:14trying to achieve here, but a lot of

24:16other meetings with policy makers, the

24:18community. And so, we we have to have

24:21those in place before day one of

24:22operations so that we've

24:25made sure that the community is aware of

24:27what's happening here.

24:29The last slide before I

24:31flip to our community engagement

24:32strategy is an example of how we have

24:36built this safe system. We have folks

24:38that used to fly Blackhawk helicopters.

24:41We have folks that used to be flight

24:42traffic operators, flight traffic

24:44controllers at major airports that are

24:47now on our team.

24:49They are doing this work in the

24:50background. They are highlighting in

24:53yellow where airports exist and meeting

24:55with each of those airports. This is

24:57another site. Not Westborough. This is

24:59from our Arizona site.

25:01But we are deconflicting by establishing

25:03no flight zones over those areas.

25:06The green areas represent ADS-B or

25:10advanced surveillance technology from

25:12digital responses that airplanes push

25:15out to radar systems.

25:17And even unregistered vehicles that also

25:20push out ADS-B technology. We track that

25:23over the course of a year and say, "All

25:26right, where is there just a lot of muck

25:28in the sky?"

25:30We'll put a no fly zone over that, too.

25:32Just to make sure we're not going into

25:33areas with a lot of action. This purple,

25:36which is really interesting, is bald

25:38eagle habitat for nesting areas from

25:41December to March at this particular

25:43site. So, December to March, you you can

25:46see that kind of cuts off the southern

25:48edge of our delivery service radius for

25:52those customers.

25:53They're welcome to come back in April,

25:55but we cannot fly through that area

25:57because of the the nesting balding

25:58eagles.

25:59All of those meetings have to take

26:01place. There's a lot of groundwork, a

26:02lot of analysis. We work with the FAA to

26:04do that. And then those blue lines tell

26:07you, from our station in the center of

26:09that map, here's what that flight path

26:11looks like to avoid all of those

26:13potential conflicts with other vehicles

26:15in the sky. That's what that particular

26:17flight path looks like.

26:19We're cleared now

26:21for at most of our sites for about 1,000

26:24flights per day.

26:25And that was a conservative estimate on

26:27our end to make sure that by 2031 or so

26:31that we might get close to that 1,000

26:33flights per day. It's going to ramp up

26:35slowly. Customers have to get

26:36comfortable using it. Um a lot of folks

26:39don't even know it exists in some of the

26:41communities where we've already

26:42launched. We are delivering tens of

26:44thousands of packages per month. But it

26:47takes a while to boost up that capacity.

26:50But we're cleared with this particular

26:51drone for a thousand flights per day. It

26:54takes a a long time to get there. And

26:56again, this is civil twilight hours, so

26:58sunrise to sunset, essentially.

27:02So, what do we do from here forward?

27:04I mentioned

27:05we're currently scheduled on September

27:0715th to meet with the planning board.

27:10Really excited about that. I've been

27:12working with Fred and and others to make

27:14sure that we're answering any important

27:16questions that we can leading up to that

27:17meeting, reaching out to communities to

27:20make sure that they are aware of our

27:22plans, not just in Westborough, but

27:25within that deliver delivery service

27:28radius. And also working with MassDOT,

27:32who has an aeronautics

27:34division that we have to get a permit

27:36from. So, to have a private restricted

27:38landing area, we need a permit from

27:41MassDOT. This is a novel

27:43novel license for them, too.

27:46So, they're going to work with us on

27:47what that looks like, but ultimately

27:49before we could begin operations, we

27:52need that permit, and they have to

27:53inspect our paddock that you'll see on

27:55the ground should we be fortunate enough

27:58enough to be approved of this site plan.

28:01That's what we're going to be doing.

28:03It's really fun when we just invite the

28:05community in and meet them where they

28:07are and let them interact with us

28:10one-on-one. We have found that to be

28:12very successful. Some folks might have

28:14very technical questions, and they can

28:17meet with our very technical team. Some

28:19folks might just want an overview of the

28:21program or how does this impact me if

28:23I'm not a customer or if I am a

28:25customer, how do I take advantage of

28:26this? So, we will be hosting at least

28:29one of those community meetings where

28:31we're out there with them

28:33giving a presentation much like this,

28:35but also interacting one-on-one with

28:37them to address any potential concerns.

28:40That's all. I say that's all. I know it

28:43was a lot. But happy to spend some time

28:46with you all this evening. Thank you. I

28:48know you have a packed agenda. Thank you

28:50for your time.

28:51Uh Chairman, turn it over to you for any

28:54questions that you might have for me.

28:56>> Yeah, thank you very much. Um and I

28:58don't know if also we wanted to I don't

29:00know if there was a a more detailed

29:02version of the site plan or folks wanted

29:05to

29:06see that. I think we may have some of

29:07that in our packet, but

29:09Um but also lead to questions.

29:15Whoever wants to start.

29:16>> at that, so

29:17>> There's two on this side, one on this

29:18side.

29:18>> Okay.

29:19I'll I'll throw you over here looking

29:20this way, so I'll give it a go. Sure.

29:22So, um uh thank you very much for coming

29:25out tonight and uh I certainly

29:26appreciate your public engagement that

29:29you talk about um and and the different

29:30topics. Uh

29:32definitely it sounds like Amazon has

29:33realized the level of communication and

29:36the topics that are being going to be of

29:37interest to the community.

29:39Um as when I joined the board 5 years

29:41ago, one of the first things I did was

29:43went for a tour of the Amazon facility

29:44and saw the saw the robotics, so I

29:45really appreciate that. Fantastic

29:47facility and I really appreciate the

29:49fact that you all are in our community.

29:51Um

29:52first of all, just a point of order, um

29:54can you make sure that you provide this

29:56presentation to the town managers so

29:58that we have it as part of our

30:00um

30:00you know, records uh so the community

30:02can also have access to it if if if so

30:04desired.

30:05>> Absolutely.

30:06>> Thank you. Um so in really no particular

30:09order, I guess the first topic that I

30:10I'd like to try to talk about is I was a

30:13little surprised to see that this is

30:15um only going through a regular site

30:18plan review,

30:19uh understanding that the town actually

30:21has defined uh airport and an airport

30:23under the zoning for an I or IB zone, my

30:26understanding is for special permit. I

30:29am just curious, you mentioned these are

30:30aircraft and defined in our zoning it

30:34is, you know, aircraft as it's it's a

30:36single sentence. Airport shall that this

30:38would should be considered an airport it

30:40shall not mean any area or lot used the

30:42landing or takeoff of aircraft or

30:44similar fixed-wing aircraft or regular

30:46on a regular or intermittent basis.

30:49So, is

30:50you've already had conversations with

30:53the planning board, it sounds like, with

30:54our um

30:55our building department.

30:57Um what is your understanding of why

31:00you're going through a site plan view

31:01review as opposed to a special permit

31:03review?

31:05>> Yeah, so great question and thank you

31:06for asking that, um board member Welch.

31:09Um

31:10we met very early on with the planning

31:13department and their team and determined

31:15that this would just be accessory to

31:17what we are already doing at the site.

31:20And so, that has been the case

31:22for almost all of our entitlements

31:24across our entire network. Nobody has

31:27called us an airport or a heliport,

31:29although most of them do have

31:30definitions of those in their codes.

31:34They understand that this is a novel

31:35concept that really wasn't drafted in a

31:38way to treat a drone vertical takeoff

31:41with unmanned aircraft leaving that

31:44facility in a 64 to to 10,000 square

31:47foot paddock. And so, our operations,

31:50what we do at that site today

31:52is fulfill customer orders and deliver

31:55to those customers. This is another

31:57vehicle that we are using to fulfill

32:00those orders, but the use of our

32:01property is really not changing. And so,

32:04that was the premise for that decision.

32:06It's been the premise for the decision

32:08by many communities. Um again, that that

32:12would be new for us to be treated as an

32:15airport, but I am aware of the

32:16definition and understand the concern.

32:19>> I I appreciate that. And as an Amazon

32:21customer, as I'm sure likely everybody

32:22in this room and certainly anybody who's

32:23listening likely is an Amazon customer,

32:25you know, I appreciate the creativity of

32:28of of, you know, new delivery options

32:30and certainly can see the need for

32:33improving that as you look at your your

32:35model. Um, I

32:37I

32:39disagree regardless of it being novel or

32:40not. You know, we You're in an industry

32:42that is constantly innovating, right?

32:44And and that's the nature of the beast.

32:46It doesn't mean that we then, um,

32:49I'll say, uh,

32:51uh, arbitrarily redefine airports as as

32:54because of a novel idea. So, my request

32:57is, because again, we're submitting

32:58feedback to the planning board as part

33:00of our site plan process, is that they

33:01reconsider the definition and therefore

33:04consider this under a special permit.

33:06Um,

33:07I would also just Oh, Fred's Fred will

33:09speak, so.

33:10>> Hey, Fred.

33:11>> Uh, Fred and our community development

33:13director for the town, uh, we've

33:15actually, uh, Bill Haslett, the building

33:17commissioner, his zoning enforcement

33:18officer, has looked at this and ruled

33:20this not to be the level of an airport

33:22and it is an accessory use to the

33:24warehouse and processing, uh,

33:26operation that's already there.

33:28So, it's incidental and accessory to the

33:30primary use.

33:32We've, uh, consulted town council and

33:34they're in agreement with that

33:35determination. So, it doesn't rise to

33:37the level of a special permit, just site

33:39plan review.

33:40>> Interesting.

33:42>> It's already been Again, it's already

33:43been, uh,

33:45couched through town council.

33:47>> Yeah, no, I appreciate that, Fred. I

33:48didn't have that insight, so I really do

33:49appreciate that. I I I guess I'm a

33:51little surprised, again, being a layman

33:52and as I read our zoning, to me, it's

33:54very clear.

33:56Even the applicant has actually defined

33:58or commented on this as being aircraft.

34:01So, to me,

34:02that's what that particular zoning line

34:05is about. So, um, it sounds like it's

34:08water under the bridge, but my comments

34:09nonetheless, I think, still, uh, hold a

34:11little bit of water.

34:12Um,

34:14so, to continue on, um,

34:16you know, you mentioned, again, no

34:17particular order here, you mentioned the

34:19the way that the flight trajectory

34:21happens up and that's good to hear that

34:22it's goes up 100 ft then takes off cuz

34:25that is a major road. We're doing major

34:26major renovations in that area to

34:28improve that intersection. So, I am I

34:31am, uh, appreciative of that, but it

34:33does

34:34You kind of talked about the emergency

34:35response piece and be able to ground the

34:37force. And when as I thought about those

34:39two issues as you were speaking, the

34:41thing that came to my mind is I live on

34:43the other side of Route 9, opposite side

34:44of the tracks, so to speak, right? And

34:48you know, I see unfortunately probably

34:51at least once a week if not more, I see

34:53LifeFlight go from UMass Hospital

34:55straight down Route 9 out to 495 in the

34:58Masspike area to service unfortunate

35:01needs.

35:02That is a very quick response. You know,

35:06in that scenario, you guys are taking

35:08off within a few hundred yards of the

35:10Route 9 corridor.

35:12Matter of fact, you are within the Route

35:139 corridor.

35:15In that scenario where this could happen

35:16in an instance, can your Can you guys

35:19And by the way, I want to preface this

35:21by saying this is my only opportunity to

35:22ask questions. And this is a really good

35:25opportunity for the community to hear I

35:27hopefully hope the whole board as well

35:29as, you know, these types of things.

35:30This is a new technology, right? So, we

35:32want to make sure we use this. So,

35:34that's why I'm asking. I want to learn

35:35more. I want to understand this. So,

35:36talk to me about how that will actually

35:39Are you guys going to be able to respond

35:41that quickly? Are you looking for a

35:42phone call from UMass? Are you looking

35:44for something from our police or fire

35:46our emergency responders? How does that

35:48fit?

35:48>> This I'm I'm really glad you asked the

35:50question, and I want to back up for a

35:52second and just talk about

35:54We've done this as administrative

35:56approvals in a lot of communities, which

35:59don't even offer us the opportunity to

36:01come speak to you and to speak to the

36:03community. So, even though this is an

36:05accessory use to our building, I did

36:07want to say that we are actually honored

36:09to be here taking part in a public

36:12process that allows us to be

36:13transparent, explain the program, answer

36:16these types of questions. So, please

36:18don't apologize for asking these

36:19questions. We love this. This is how we

36:22get the information out there broadly.

36:25To hit the point on how we interact with

36:27conflicted airspace, it is absolutely

36:30automatic. If a helicopter Flight For

36:33Life is taking off, we're going to know

36:35about it immediately through our RFID

36:38program. Our flight monitors will know,

36:40the station manager will know, and we

36:42have ways to make sure that there is

36:43redundancy built in there, too. If

36:46you're operating a drone as a first

36:47responder, that becomes a little

36:49trickier. It's not as simple to just

36:53register each flight in real time. And

36:56so, we do depend on phone calls for a

36:58lot of those things to say, "Please

37:00avoid the area." But, Flight For Life,

37:02first of all, we fly only 400 ft and

37:05lower. We're not approved to go higher

37:07than 400 ft. Most of those Flight For

37:09Life are going to exceed that.

37:11Um and so, we we are deconflicting all

37:14of those airspaces, too. We're also not

37:16allowed to follow major corridors. We

37:19can't have our flight paths going along

37:21freeways and major roads. We can cross

37:23them on a direct path to get to a

37:25customer's house, but we're not

37:27following those same paths uh that a lot

37:29of other airspace users might.

37:31>> Okay. Thank you. Um

37:34just to continue on a little bit. I One

37:36of the things you didn't talk about, are

37:37there cameras on these craft?

37:39>> There There's sensors and cameras on our

37:43aircraft.

37:43>> Okay.

37:44>> Now, no human being is monitoring

37:47those cameras in real time.

37:50Those cameras are actually being

37:51monitored by the drone itself,

37:54who can use that data and make a

37:57maneuver if it needs to, or avoid

38:00something on the ground as it's making

38:02its delivery.

38:03>> Is that data used for continuous

38:05improvement of the product, of the

38:06delivery system?

38:07>> It's like you took the words right out

38:09of my mouth. That is the only way,

38:10again, I mentioned that at the

38:11beginning, privacy is everything to our

38:14customers, and how we use that data is

38:15very important. The data is stored in a

38:18vault where only authorized personnel

38:20could even access that data, and it's

38:22not monitored in real time. Only if

38:24there were an incident

38:26would someone have access to that data

38:28to determine what went wrong, how do we

38:31fix it, how do we make it better.

38:33>> Does the technology allow, and I'm glad,

38:36really glad to see privacy on your on

38:38your slides, right?

38:40Um so I'm going to ask a very pointed

38:42scenario question to you.

38:44Does does the technology provide that a

38:48home is not videoed. So what I'm

38:51imagining is this, you're coming in for

38:53your 100 foot drop, you're getting 13

38:55foot off the ground to make your your

38:56drop,

38:58and I'm just going to use the scenario

38:59that comes to mind.

39:00I don't have a 16-year-old daughter

39:01anymore, but if I had a 16-year-old

39:03daughter in her bedroom in the front of

39:04my house, she forgot to pull the blinds

39:06as she was getting changed, and your

39:08drone comes down and happens to film

39:10her,

39:11how do I know that that's not happening?

39:13How do I know that if it did happen,

39:15that regardless of it's in a vault, that

39:16that data is being scrubbed? Because

39:19that's a privacy issue, right? So talk

39:21to me about kind of those types of

39:22scenarios. How how are you going to

39:24address that?

39:25>> Yeah. I I do have a 17-year-old

39:27daughter.

39:27>> Okay.

39:27>> So um

39:29but I'm not eligible for drone delivery

39:30yet. Um

39:32so we are not scanning the area when a

39:35package is being delivered. It treats

39:37that 100 foot 18 foot wide cylinder as

39:40the area that it needs to make sure is

39:43totally safe to make a delivery. So that

39:46is the scan that our cameras and sensors

39:48are using. It is not peering forward as

39:51it's making that delivery. It is

39:53certainly just making sure that it can

39:55descend vertically onto the customer's

39:58property to make that delivery safe.

40:00>> looking straight down.

40:01>> Correct.

40:02>> Okay.

40:03That that helps. Thank you.

40:06Um

40:08you mentioned um a conservative, I'm

40:10going to use your words, conservative

40:11thousand deliveries a day in that

40:13circle, right? So that's a thousand take

40:15off and landing. That's a takeoffs and

40:171,000 landings.

40:20Modestly, what would the number be?

40:23>> I use the term conservatively to mean

40:25we're not going to get close to there

40:27for a very long time.

40:28>> I was looking at the other way. You're

40:30thinking that that's your low amount.

40:31>> the FAA to say, "What would it look like

40:34if we could get to 1,000 flights per

40:36day?" So that they could use that

40:38number, which we think is potentially

40:41possible by 2031 for us if we get the

40:44customer base there.

40:45Um what would it look like in terms of

40:47going through the environmental

40:48assessment based on 1,000 flights per

40:52day? And so that's why we're

40:53conservative up up front with that

40:55number even though it's going to take a

40:56very long time to ramp.

40:58>> Okay. And then um you we there's another

41:02a number of competitors quite close to

41:04where you are today

41:06who are very I'll just call it affluent

41:08for lack of a better word who could also

41:10deploy this type of technology. What is

41:12your understanding in in regards to FAA

41:15rules in regards to proximity between

41:17these types of locations if a Walmart or

41:20a Target or one of these other uh

41:22businesses in that area decided to also

41:24deploy?

41:26>> Um one of the benefits of what we have

41:29with Amazon's program is that we have

41:31designed this system ourselves and we

41:34are completely controlling it in-house.

41:36So there's one company to deal with.

41:38>> Yeah, no, no. I just mean proximity like

41:40you're if you're launching on

41:42conservatively the maximum 1,000 day

41:441,000 returns a day and Target decides

41:46to do it which they're only a few

41:47hundred yards from where you are and

41:49they deploy the exact same scenario with

41:50the exact same volume, is that under

41:53your knowledge, if you are aware of it,

41:55what is FAA's expectation of having what

41:57I would define an airport on every

42:00uh

42:01retail vendor's parking lot is kind of

42:03where we're headed here.

42:05>> Yeah, so it would fall into a similar

42:09um issue that we have here on the map

42:12which shows there are several airports

42:14and several competitors, if we want to

42:16call them competitors in this case,

42:18several heliports.

42:20The more heliports, the more airports,

42:22the more activity you have in the sky,

42:24the more conflicted the airspace will

42:25be.

42:26>> But they don't have to be a certain

42:27distance from each other.

42:28>> Well, you you have you have to manage

42:30you have to manage the uncontrolled

42:32airspace. And that's why we have the

42:34systems in-house that we have designed

42:37on our particular drone, approved by the

42:40FAA, to keep ourselves safe from other

42:43operators. Now, other operators would

42:45have to go through the same process. So,

42:48they would have to

42:49have a company, either their own or a

42:52contracted supplier, that would go

42:54through a similar effort with the FAA to

42:57make sure that they can also safely

42:59operate in uncontrolled and controlled

43:02airspace.

43:03We took the time to build the system

43:05ourselves to be able to manage that

43:07traffic management, which is how we got

43:09the FAA certification to do so.

43:13>> I appreciate Thank you for taking the

43:14questions, and I look forward to hearing

43:15the other questions from the board. So,

43:16thank you very much for

43:17>> thoughtful. Appreciate it.

43:20>> Thank you, Patrick.

43:21>> Mark?

43:21>> You want to go?

43:22>> I can go.

43:22>> Sure.

43:23>> I I just don't want to be redundant, so

43:25you go.

43:25>> Okay.

43:26>> Fine. Um

43:27I'm going to go back more to kind of

43:29just the the straightforward planning,

43:30and thank you, board member Welsh, for

43:31some of your questions. Um and just

43:33looking through the stuff, a couple of

43:34things um

43:37Again, I don't know what the risk may be

43:39of battery storage, whatever you talked

43:40about work with the fire department.

43:41When I looked from what we had, it was

43:43tough to read, but can you just explain

43:45about fire access

43:47uh to that property, um how I looked at

43:52some of the pictures, I know they were

43:53just drawn, it was almost like parking

43:55was

43:56you still have parking right around that

43:59facility. How would a

44:02fire truck, two fire trucks, access that

44:04with

44:06that happening? I'm going to assume

44:07that's going to be part of what the

44:08planning

44:10board is looking for.

44:10>> Yeah, yeah, and that that's that'll be

44:12ultimately part of our permitting

44:14process is to get final fire sign-off.

44:16Right now, the same situation exists. If

44:19one vehicle in that parking lot were to

44:21catch fire, it's going to be surrounded

44:23by other vehicles. We have designed a

44:25site um that has fire access directly to

44:29it to protect the building mainly. If an

44:31incident happens outside the building,

44:34there's also plenty of access points

44:35around the site with your equipment.

44:37We've got a road just on the the

44:40upper

44:41um edge of the site plan there on the

44:43north side there.

44:44Fire truck could pull right in there to

44:47access have immediate access to our

44:48paddock if needed.

44:51>> Okay.

44:51>> But our battery vault, I hope you saw

44:53those in the plans. It's a really cool

44:55system, fully self-contained trailers

44:58that can store about up to 12 batteries

45:02per vault.

45:03And if there's an incident that happens

45:06with a battery in that situation, it

45:09actually vents itself so that there's no

45:11harm to anyone near it. Uh would vent

45:13those fumes upward and outward, but

45:16self-contain the actual fire component

45:18if that were to unfortunately take

45:20place. We haven't had an incident yet

45:22after tens of thousands of of flights

45:25um per month, but um it is possible,

45:27which is why we we are using a a

45:29protected system.

45:31>> Okay.

45:33>> Just want to offer one of the things

45:34that we're in a unique situation here

45:36because next door is Amazon Robotics,

45:38where we design and manufacture

45:41tons of robots. And so, we have a deep

45:44and lasting relationship with the fire

45:46department, who are in there at least

45:48quarterly if not more frequently to kind

45:49of not just understand our processes,

45:52inspect that we're doing things the

45:54right way, bringing new team members in,

45:56etc. And so, I think one of the things

45:58that we're really comfortable with is

46:01there's the kind of the the

46:03the minimum requirements, but I think we

46:05every day go above and beyond in our

46:07interaction with Westborough fire and

46:09the surrounding fire departments. And

46:10so, I think we expect that we're going

46:12to piggyback on that approach. And it's

46:15already happening just because this is a

46:16really active building today. We've got

46:18between approximately 500 people working

46:20every single day. Lots of robots moving

46:22around that building as well. So, there

46:24we're just we're adding additional

46:27lithium ion to the site. But it is

46:30actually on on a grand total of the kind

46:32of the percentage, it's actually a small

46:34percentage of lithium ion robotics that

46:36are already operating at the facility.

46:37So, hopefully that gives you some

46:39comfort that we've been operating this

46:41building since late 2023

46:44and can will continue to maintain that

46:46high standard in partnership with, you

46:48know, public safety officials across the

46:49town.

46:49>> Perfect. Thank you.

46:50Thank you. I just want to know just to I

46:52mean, I know it'll be part of the

46:53planning piece, but just I am

46:55interested in that.

46:57Um

46:58You explained as well, um

47:00it was tough to see, but what kind of

47:02secure I know it's a

47:04sounds like it's going to be a secure

47:05area, but what kind of

47:06>> Yeah.

47:06>> security fencing, keeping

47:08>> Yeah, so there there's

47:09>> curious people out.

47:10>> There's a small detail on your plan set

47:12that showed we use a Jersey barrier

47:14system which keeps things from running

47:16into the paddock, which would be a

47:18dangerous scenario and quite costly to a

47:21lot of the equipment that we have in

47:22there. On top of the Jersey barrier, we

47:24have a a mesh fence system that is

47:27applied directly on top of that. Should

47:29not exceed your current fencing

47:31requirements in terms of height. Um but

47:34we're going to work with your building

47:35department to to get what's needed

47:36there. That satisfied it's our security

47:39requirements.

47:41Nobody has access to just walk into our

47:43primary drone delivery center. You have

47:45to have special access. So, even if you

47:47work at this facility, that does not

47:49give you special access into the primary

47:52drone delivery center. You have to have

47:54different badge access to to make it

47:56through those gates.

47:57>> Perfect. Thank you.

47:58>> Mhm.

47:59>> Um and the and the last piece I think

48:00you talked about this already, but um I

48:03know we don't have it active now, but I

48:05do know that our police chief is talking

48:08about a and I think you said you met um

48:11with Chief Minardi, but the kind of a

48:13drone

48:14um potential drone piece. It sounds like

48:16that would be something that

48:18even with this approved, that would be

48:20coordinated post

48:22this and to make sure that um that

48:25communication and all of that will

48:27happen.

48:28>> Yes, that's

48:29>> necessary.

48:29>> That's exactly right. And you do have

48:31other um departments within the region

48:33that are also exploring drone as first

48:35responder or already have them employed.

48:38And so as we learn from Chief Minardi,

48:40as they continue to explore that as an

48:42option here in Westborough, um we're

48:45going to be on their list of folks to

48:46work with immediately to make sure that

48:48we're deconflicting.

48:49>> Okay. Perfect.

48:50Um I think that's all I have right now.

48:52Thank you.

48:53>> You too. Thank you.

48:56>> Uh thank you so much for coming in. I

48:58appreciate all the information you gave

48:59us. Um and just we're in a unique well,

49:03not so unique for us, but it probably

49:04unique for you in the sense that we're

49:06not

49:07really putting requirements on you.

49:09We're just putting uh recommendations

49:11over to the planning board and they're

49:12the ones with authority on this.

49:14At least for now. Uh and that really

49:16brings me back to Patrick's question and

49:18I think it was answered,

49:20but um

49:22you know,

49:24the definition in our zoning of air cra-

49:26of airport is pretty clear. Refers to

49:29aircraft. The definition of FHA FAA

49:33um

49:35makes it clear that these drones are

49:36aircraft.

49:38Um

49:39you refer to them as aircraft. I

49:42I'm just

49:43playing, you know, the worst case

49:45scenario if this passes and somebody

49:48appeals it,

49:49um what happens. So, again, it I

49:53I trust our council,

49:55but I'm nervous. So, that That being

49:58said, I'll move on. Uh you talked about

50:00the size of the drones. That was one of

50:02my question. They are pretty big. Um and

50:04that, you know, I know they're not

50:06heavy, but they're pretty good size. And

50:08my initial reaction was I I don't really

50:11want these flying around my

50:12neighborhood. Um

50:14but I got to thinking about it and I

50:17said, well, if

50:18they don't take off from here, they're

50:20going to take off from another town, and

50:22they'll still be flying around my

50:23neighborhood. So, um so, that really

50:26doesn't help me any. Um and I also I

50:28appreciate the fact that they don't

50:30operate at night

50:31because I had a 4:00 Amazon

50:344:00 a.m. Amazon delivery the other day

50:36that woke up my dogs and therefore woke

50:38me up. And so, um

50:41you know, I'm

50:43I think in that sense it might be better

50:45if they're just coming during the day

50:46and I might get fewer

50:48night time deliveries.

50:50I might also

50:51have less traffic on the roads, um which

50:54I think is always a good thing.

50:56Um so, those are some benefits. Um

51:00I wanted to know how

51:01what is the value of each of these

51:03drones and how many are going to be on

51:05site? And that leads me to the follow-up

51:08question of

51:09how much tax revenue are we talking

51:11about? Cuz that, you know, that

51:13could make a difference in my opinion. I

51:17don't know.

51:17>> Yeah.

51:17>> Not always.

51:19>> Well, those are three questions of which

51:21I can answer one of them fully, which is

51:24we plan to start our operations with

51:26about 10 to 12 drones on that particular

51:29property. I can't share how much each

51:32one of our drones are valued at because

51:35um that's proprietary information. We We

51:38make these ourselves. That's one thing

51:40that I love about this program is that

51:43we have our drone manufacturing facility

51:45right up by our headquarters in Seattle,

51:47just south of Seattle. And if you ever

51:49get the chance

51:50to tour that, it is

51:52fantastic to watch an American-made

51:54company uh bring this new program to

51:57life from soup to nuts. So, that's

52:00really cool. In terms of tax revenue,

52:02what we have found is this is a really

52:04unique opportunity to serve our

52:05customers that we might not otherwise

52:07serve. Sometimes when you need something

52:11at 4:00 in the afternoon and it's 10:00

52:13in the morning, you could maybe get it

52:15same day. You might get it at 4:00 in

52:17the morning and apologize for waking up

52:19the dogs. But a lot of those trips end

52:21up being other companies. People taking

52:25a single vehicle out onto the roads that

52:28are already congested, going to the

52:30corner store or a particular market,

52:33buying the single item that they really

52:34needed now, be it baby formula, diapers,

52:38children's Tylenol. I'm thinking of what

52:39you need in a pinch. You can tell where

52:41my head is right now.

52:43Um

52:44getting that one item, coming back. So,

52:46you've got two road trips there.

52:48Um

52:49you're getting a tax benefit there, but

52:50you're still getting tax benefit from

52:52the product coming from Amazon.

52:54Now, what's really great about our

52:56company is that 60%

52:59of everything that's sold on amazon.com

53:03is coming from our small and

53:04medium-sized independent sellers.

53:07And so, that helps

53:09them achieve

53:11different results for their customers,

53:13too. Each time we deliver for our

53:14customers in an innovative way to get

53:17things at scale faster and to a broader

53:20audience, that allows them to sell more

53:22product, which

53:24in turn allows them to go out, spend

53:27more money at restaurants, spend more

53:29money at at malls and and other ways.

53:31And

53:32um so, it it's cyclical. Do we have the

53:34exact data for how what this is going to

53:36look like

53:37um for a specific tax revenue due to

53:40that? I don't have that answer tonight.

53:44>> Maybe what I'd suggest is maybe

53:45[clears throat] just reiterating the

53:46point earlier that we already have

53:48hundreds of robotics proprietary

53:50technology on the site today

53:52in partnership with your assessing

53:54department, we found a way to engage in

53:56the business personal property tax

53:58payments. And so I think I would expect

53:59that

54:00for so successful [clears throat] to

54:01deploy this, etc.,

54:03that becomes a conversation where we

54:04kind of work in hand in hand with the

54:06town to figure out what that looks like.

54:08I think the summary is

54:10>> I don't think either one of us have the

54:11detail beyond that tonight.

54:12>> It would simply be this will be a

54:15revenue opportunity

54:16for the town.

54:17>> Right. I I I

54:19the magnitude of which I think we could

54:21try to get you a little more information

54:22on, but I think it probably be subject

54:24to negotiation with your tax team.

54:26>> But I think to that point, sorry, just

54:28to jump in there.

54:28>> No, please, go ahead.

54:29>> That it it's considered personal and I'm

54:31I finance director came in. It is

54:33considered personal property similar to

54:34what you have today. It'll be assessed

54:36and we will get tax revenue off that as

54:38it's assessed by the

54:40assessor's office.

54:41>> Correct.

54:42>> Perfect. Thank you.

54:43>> So, um

54:44how many uh I again, I

54:47I think you talked a little bit about

54:49how many deliveries per day. I just uh

54:51in the long term,

54:54I've heard, you know, I did some

54:56homework and I've read articles where

55:00Jeff Bezos said that 85% of the

55:02deliveries are under

55:045 lb and this is designed to deliver

55:07packages under 5 lb. And And if I look

55:10at 85% of all the deliveries out of this

55:12site,

55:14that's a

55:16whole lot of deliveries that I'm you

55:18know, that's a lot more than you're

55:20projecting. So, I'm just concerned like

55:22what, you know, long term, 20 years from

55:24now, 30 years from now, are we going to

55:26be looking at thousands of these drones

55:28taking off um just for this 7-mi radius

55:33or

55:34possibly a greater radius as the

55:36technology

55:37increases and you go further with the

55:39drones.

55:40>> Yeah, interesting question. So, I I want

55:43to capture those percentages a little

55:45bit different. So,

55:47most of the product in our fulfillment

55:49centers now are eligible for drone

55:52delivery by size and weight, being less

55:54than 5 lb and can fit in a shoe box.

55:57That doesn't mean that most of those

55:59deliveries are going to be made by

56:00drone. We're not canceling the other

56:02delivery mechanism, which is by personal

56:04vehicle uh to our customers' homes. This

56:07is in addition to. This is an opt-in for

56:09the customer.

56:11We can kind of roughly guess that we're

56:13we'll see about 10 deliveries per hour

56:17uh once we get underway with operations

56:19here. And so, we're going to be nowhere

56:21near that thousand mark for many months

56:24and years to come. What that looks like

56:27long-term into the future, as different

56:30uh

56:30drones are developed, as the regulations

56:33might change from FAA, which I would

56:35expect would happen as more commercial

56:37drone operators um are becoming active

56:40in the airspace, um that's tough to

56:42predict. But for now, it's a slow ramp

56:45up to deliver for our customers as an

56:47option. It is not automatic. You have to

56:51tell the system that you would rather

56:52have this by drone than personal

56:55vehicle, and you pay a premium to to

56:56have that service.

57:00>> Okay.

57:01Um

57:02I'm not sure that I

57:04All right.

57:05>> [laughter]

57:06>> So, we're delivering thousands of

57:08deliveries per day today

57:09>> Right.

57:09>> out of that facility, thousands.

57:12And a lot of those deliveries if it's a

57:14different model in many ways. One

57:17is that one vehicle that pulls up to

57:19that site, and if you haven't toured

57:20that facility, I think that I'm going to

57:22wink here at Jonathan in the background

57:24and and say we we might want to do that

57:26at some point. Um

57:28one vehicle pulls up uh from our

57:31delivery service partner.

57:33And they might take 40 to 50 packages

57:37out to our customers in the region. And

57:40that could be much farther than that 7.5

57:42mile delivery service radius also. And

57:45each one of those packages

57:47might have several different items in

57:49that package.

57:50And so one vehicle in that instance is

57:52taking care of

57:54many, many, many units. One drone takes

57:57one unit in one box to one single

58:00customer. So we'll never reach that 85%

58:04of our deliveries being made by drone.

58:07Um, it's an addition to help complement

58:09our existing service. It is not a

58:11replacement.

58:14>> Um, okay.

58:16Next question.

58:17Uh,

58:22you have uh, this this is I I can't I

58:26don't have a zoom out of it. But is that

58:27Chauncy Mac upon there in the

58:30>> No, it's not. It's further up, right?

58:32>> Yes, it's further north.

58:33>> This is the site that's closest to Cold

58:36Harbor and

58:37>> Yes.

58:37>> Next door, yep.

58:38>> So, uh,

58:40that being said, you do have some

58:42sensitive environmental areas, Chauncy

58:44Mac upon being one of them. You have a

58:47four-story apartment building very close

58:49to you in Park, seven-story apartment

58:52building very close to you in Arrive.

58:54>> Yep.

58:54>> I'm concerned about the noise impact at

58:57a you particularly for the elevated

58:59apartments in those um,

59:03is there plans to do any kind of live

59:05demonstration so people can hear

59:09actually in person

59:11the the noise generated by these?

59:14>> I'll answer your second question first,

59:17which is no, we can't do live

59:19demonstrations and that is simply

59:21the fact that we can't fly our drones in

59:23Westborough until we're fully cleared by

59:26the FAA.

59:28So, we don't begin operations, we can't

59:30do a demonstration until we begin

59:32operations and have that full clearance

59:34from FAA. However, starting on day one,

59:37that's a great opportunity and we

59:38usually do um some sort of event to

59:41celebrate us just getting launched. I

59:43think if you live somewhat close to our

59:45facility, you might be able to spot with

59:48your binoculars and start looking for

59:50drones in the sky. Um but certainly

59:53welcome to other ways after launch uh to

59:56be able to get community members

59:57involved to be able to see it up close

59:59and personal.

1:00:00Um

1:00:02We do have residential in the [snorts]

1:00:04area. I will tell you that about 80% of

1:00:07our same-day fulfillment centers like

1:00:10like this one are located adjacent to

1:00:12residential communities and that's

1:00:14intentional. That is first of all, the

1:00:16way that these towns were zoned and so

1:00:19you've you've built commercial and

1:00:20industrial corridors. You've separated

1:00:22them on boundary lines from residential

1:00:25over time. And so we just end up fitting

1:00:27in those um parts of the community.

1:00:31As we look at nearby residential here,

1:00:33we've got the apartments to the west um

1:00:35which are about 1,600 ft from the west

1:00:38side of our building. Our drone

1:00:40operations are happening on the east

1:00:41side of the building. We've got the

1:00:43Arrive Apartments which I was um at that

1:00:46intersection for a while tonight on the

1:00:48way over and uh saw those. Those are

1:00:51even farther away from our fulfillment

1:00:53center.

1:00:54Want to reiterate again, the best thing

1:00:56we do is get up very high into the air

1:00:59and quickly. And so will you see it if

1:01:01you're on the seventh floor? You might

1:01:03see drones coming up, but they're not

1:01:05following a constant path in one

1:01:07direction. It's really dependent on who

1:01:10has ordered the package for delivery.

1:01:12But either way, it's going up 100 ft and

1:01:15then cruising altitude at at least 205

1:01:18ft to 370 ft on the way to the customer.

1:01:22>> Okay.

1:01:24Um so I would recommend that uh

1:01:27at some point there be a live document

1:01:29demonstration, whether it be after the

1:01:31permit's issued. Uh so that would be one

1:01:33of the things I would ask planning board

1:01:34to to follow up on.

1:01:36>> [clears throat]

1:01:37>> Uh I would also ask planning board

1:01:39um

1:01:42when the original special permit for

1:01:44this site was issued, um one of the

1:01:46conditions was a a donation to the

1:01:49Westborough Little League, which I

1:01:50believe was followed up on.

1:01:52Um but I would ask the planning board to

1:01:54verify that. And also there was an

1:01:56easement

1:01:57requirement to the um

1:02:00part uh Target Fields to provide more

1:02:02parking. Uh and I'm not sure that that

1:02:04was followed up on. I couldn't find an

1:02:06easement on record at the registry. Um

1:02:08so I would recommend that that be

1:02:10followed up on.

1:02:11Okay. Uh there was um you know, again, I

1:02:14I think those are

1:02:16very minimal impact on site, but could

1:02:21have a beneficial impact on the Little

1:02:23League. And that's why they were

1:02:25requi- or requested and granted by the

1:02:28applicant at the time.

1:02:29I was on the planning board then, so I

1:02:31know.

1:02:31>> Oh, excellent.

1:02:32Yeah.

1:02:33>> Uh other than that, I can't think of any

1:02:34other recommendations.

1:02:36Um

1:02:39I'll let the planning board do their

1:02:41thing from here. So.

1:02:43>> Well, thank you for your service on both

1:02:45boards. Appreciate that.

1:02:47>> All right, Mark. Thank you. And Mandy,

1:02:49you got that?

1:02:50>> Thank you very much.

1:02:51>> Um yeah, a a lot of questions. I I think

1:02:54it in your presentation answered a lot

1:02:55of my questions. I need just a couple

1:02:58um additional. You talked about the FAA

1:03:01planning process sort of. How long does

1:03:03that take and kind of how far along are

1:03:05you?

1:03:06>> Uh we're just getting underway with our

1:03:08FAA I call them negotiations. It's

1:03:11really a planning process that we work

1:03:12in concert with them. And so we're

1:03:15having those outside community meetings

1:03:17now and arranging a lot of those with uh

1:03:20emergency responders and other airspace

1:03:22users in the region. Those are underway

1:03:25and we've already had several of those.

1:03:27Once we have their general assessment of

1:03:30the airspace,

1:03:32um we will paper paper an official file

1:03:35with the FAA asking for their full

1:03:37assessment. Um that process will take

1:03:40them about 30 to 40 days. It's a public

1:03:43process. So, we're still a ways out from

1:03:46there. Um I I think if we were to be

1:03:48able to make that formal request um

1:03:52shortly after our our meeting with the

1:03:54the planning board on the 15th, that

1:03:56would be ideal and still might allow us

1:03:58to achieve great things here by the end

1:04:00of the year. That That's the plan, but

1:04:03we don't like to move forward without uh

1:04:06turning over every stone and and make

1:04:07sure we've covered the bases there.

1:04:09>> Got it. Thank you. Thank you.

1:04:11Um

1:04:11>> And I and I think in your presentation

1:04:14it mentioned this. So, I I just um bring

1:04:16it up for the community. I think did it

1:04:18state maximum decibels was 68?

1:04:22>> Correct. So, at its loudest point it's

1:04:24going to be at about 68 decibels. As

1:04:26it's making a delivery to your backyard,

1:04:29it'll be at about 65 to 68 decibels. If

1:04:32you're in the front yard, that turns

1:04:34down to much less than 50 in most cases.

1:04:37If you're inside, it's negligible.

1:04:39But 68 again,

1:04:41about normal conversation or holding a

1:04:44toothbrush out at arm's length. Electric

1:04:47toothbrush. Regular one of course is

1:04:49should be zero.

1:04:50>> Right. Right. Thank [laughter] you.

1:04:52Um and then you mentioned

1:04:55you made a a sort of what was an offhand

1:04:57comment and then and it the light bulb

1:05:00these are not additional trips. These

1:05:02are trips that

1:05:04would be made by car that are instead

1:05:06are going to be made by drones. And

1:05:08could you talk a little bit about the

1:05:09environmental impact of drones versus

1:05:12actual automotive delivery.

1:05:15>> Yeah, I appreciate that question cuz

1:05:16it's what I'm really excited about. As

1:05:19we continue to deliver for our customers

1:05:20using drones over the next several

1:05:23years, I think we'll have beyond

1:05:25anecdotal evidence that can help us

1:05:28talk about the traffic impacts or the

1:05:30reduction of traffic. We don't have that

1:05:32today. We just haven't been doing this

1:05:34long enough to know how many trips did

1:05:36we really cut by delivering by drone. We

1:05:39think there's a novelty component to it

1:05:41where our customers obviously love the

1:05:43speed. They love the cool factor of

1:05:47seeing a drone come onto their property

1:05:49and delivering that object.

1:05:51A lot of those, once they've gone beyond

1:05:53the cool factor, we're getting a lot of

1:05:55repeat customers of items that would

1:05:58typically be

1:06:00running to the pharmacy or another store

1:06:02or ordering on Amazon for next day or

1:06:04same-day delivery that are being

1:06:06replaced by drone.

1:06:08If they're replaced by drone

1:06:10by

1:06:11from our existing delivery mechanism,

1:06:14all of those also add up over time.

1:06:17Can we keep delivery vehicles off the

1:06:20roads

1:06:21by offering them other options?

1:06:24We just don't have that level of data

1:06:26today, but anecdotally, yes, people are

1:06:29not getting in their car when they've

1:06:31got two sick children at home to go get

1:06:33those items. They'd rather have them in

1:06:3530 minutes

1:06:36delivered into their backyard.

1:06:38>> But you're also not getting your drivers

1:06:40going to those. You're having a

1:06:43drone do that. So it's keeping your

1:06:44drivers, some drivers off the road as

1:06:46well.

1:06:46>> Correct. Yeah, but I I again want to

1:06:49want to preface that with it's it's

1:06:51mostly anecdotal evidence at this point,

1:06:52but we know it's going to have an

1:06:54impact, and I think that story's going

1:06:56to be really cool from our overall

1:06:57sustainability footprint.

1:06:59>> Kind of. All right, thank you very much.

1:07:00Any additional questions?

1:07:02>> Yeah, I did have one. First of all,

1:07:03that's great to hear. I represent this

1:07:05committee on our Sustainable Westbrook

1:07:06Committee, so it's great to hear this

1:07:08that you know, that is a positive of

1:07:11this type of technology. Uh just a quick

1:07:13follow-up question. I realize you can't

1:07:15share strategy, but I'm just curious,

1:07:17are we the first in the state that

1:07:19you're or is this

1:07:20being rolled out in other communities at

1:07:22the same time? Um

1:07:25>> You're the first in the state. Should we

1:07:27be able to get this approved? You would

1:07:29be the first prime air drone delivery

1:07:31operations in the state in the

1:07:33Commonwealth.

1:07:35>> And if I saw your slide earlier, it

1:07:36might have been in New England as well

1:07:38because your list was all like Midwest,

1:07:39Southwest.

1:07:41Yeah, New England as well.

1:07:43>> We have a few underway, but um

1:07:45this is really exciting for us to be in

1:07:47this part of the country. Um we have a

1:07:49lot out west and that's fun and but

1:07:52looking for that that first project in

1:07:54New England will

1:07:55>> Yeah, New England certainly has its

1:07:56unique challenges being such a settled

1:07:58area with windy roads and hills and all

1:08:01that stuff. It's a little different than

1:08:02the west with planned communities, but

1:08:05um yeah, thank you.

1:08:07Appreciate it.

1:08:08>> Final?

1:08:10>> No, I

1:08:11yes, sorry.

1:08:12>> You said

1:08:12>> I said no and I started talking and

1:08:14that's

1:08:14>> [laughter]

1:08:15>> Um

1:08:16No, thank thank you for being here. Um

1:08:19For me, I'm excited about it. I I trust

1:08:21our planning board to take it through

1:08:22the proper processes. We put some

1:08:24comments in there, but

1:08:26to me this I mean this is this is

1:08:28happening in front of our eyes. It's

1:08:31Um this is innovation. This is

1:08:33technology. Um

1:08:36You have been a great partner. Um as as

1:08:39was stated to us here in town through

1:08:41robotics and

1:08:42um you know, giving back to the

1:08:44community. We appreciate that. We expect

1:08:45that to continue. We're Personally, I'm

1:08:47excited that this uh

1:08:50to board member Welch is saying that we

1:08:52are SMA one. We're we're number one here

1:08:54in Massachusetts. That's a that's a cool

1:08:57thing. Um

1:08:59We like that here in Westborough. I

1:09:00think that's a personally, um excited

1:09:03this is happening. And I trust my fellow

1:09:05elected

1:09:06other board

1:09:08members to do the right thing that they

1:09:10do well, but um for me there's some

1:09:12things here, but I'm very supportive of

1:09:14this moving forward. So, good luck with

1:09:16it. Thank you for being here. Thank you

1:09:17for thoroughly explaining what this was

1:09:19versus just coming in and showing us a

1:09:22site plan. So, appreciate that.

1:09:24>> Thank you. Thanks for your comments

1:09:25tonight.

1:09:26>> Very good.

1:09:28Gentlemen, thank you very much. Well

1:09:29done. Now, obviously not the first time

1:09:31you presented this, but uh very well

1:09:33done. Uh thank you again and and look

1:09:35forward to watching you with the

1:09:36planning board. All right.

1:09:37>> Yes. Thank you, Chair. Thank you,

1:09:38members of the board.

1:09:40And thanks again to your staff.

1:09:42>> Great.

1:09:42>> Thank you.