Amazon takes another step toward building here.
KINGSTON – Amazon takes another step toward building here.
In a unanimous vote Wednesday night, the Kingston Zoning Board of Appeals approved a variance for Amazon’s proposed e-commerce distribution center that would be built in Kingston and Plymouth off Exit 8.
Attorney Bob Betters, representing developer Scannell Properties, made it clear early on in the meeting that approval of the variance is significant for this proposal, known as Project Eagle.
“This is the minimum height needed by Amazon for this facility,” he said. “If the variance is not granted, and in fact absent this relief, the project would not go forward.”
The project will require approvals in both Kingston and Plymouth with the 145,000-square-foot building on both sides of the town line by William C. Gould Jr. Way and Prestige Way. As Betters said, the Zoning Board hearing is just the first in a series of hearings that will be required, in both towns.
The next hearing is a Kingston Planning Board hearing scheduled for Monday, April 13. Amazon is requesting a special permit for use and site plan review. A Plymouth Planning Board hearing is scheduled for April 14, with the use allowed by-right. A Plymouth Zoning Board hearing is scheduled for May 6. Betters said the use is allowed by-right in Plymouth, but not Kingston.
At 45-feet, according to the Zoning Board – Betters argued that it’s technically 42-feet, 11-inches – the building exceeds Kingston’s 40-foot height limit.
The Kingston Fire Department doesn’t have equipment for a building that height, so a financial contribution will likely be part of mitigation efforts. Betters said they have also been in discussion with the fire and planning officials of both towns. Water and sewer would come from Plymouth.
The 42-acre site is located within commercial districts in both towns. With a traffic study planned by the developer, both towns would conduct a peer review of that study. Approximately 75 percent of the building and approximately 20 percent of the parking would be located in Kingston.
Zoning Board Chairman Paul Dahlen said it seems to be the right area for a project like this with nearby buildings for which variances for height were requested, including the Regal Cinemas RPX theaters at Kingston Collection.
Zoning Board member Doug Dondero asked if traffic would use the Cherry Street exit off Route 44 to ease traffic. The answer was that 25 to 30 percent of the traffic is expected to take Prestige Way to Cherry Street, so the building will be accessible through Plymouth and Kingston.
Follow Kathryn Gallerani on Twitter @kgallreporter.
