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December 2, 2025

Amazon's proposed distribution facility in Gorham raises concerns over traffic and noise

aerial view of industrial park in Gorham PHOTO /COURTESY TOWN OF GORHAM A 94-acre parcel in the Gorham Industrial Park is targeted for development by Amazon.
By Tina Fischer

Gorham residents got a first look at preliminary details of Amazon’s proposed 158,000-square-foot distribution facility earlier this week, when the town planning board reviewed the company’s ‘pre-app sketch plan.’ 

The online retailing giant has proposed a 30-foot-tall, single-story building with parking for 903 vehicles on a 93-acre site within the Gorham Industrial Park off Main Street/Rte. 25.

Amazon signed a purchase and sale agreement in late August to purchase the parcel from the town for $4 million and the company is currently exercising due diligence as stipulated in the agreement.

Amazon needs to obtain permits from the Army Corp of Engineers, the Maine Department of Transportation and the Department of Environmental Protection, among others, before the project application will be complete.

Town Planner Carol Eyerman told the board that the approval process with the DEP alone takes “months and months and months.”

Representing Amazon at the planning board meeting Dec. 1 was civil engineer Chris Taylor from South Portland-based Sebago Technics and Christina Bernardin, vice president of development and construction for New York-based industrial development company Bluewater Property Group.

Bernardin told the board the proposed facility will be a “last-mile” distribution warehouse for Amazon, where pre-labeled packages are trucked in and sorted for delivery. The facility is projected to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week and the tractor-trailers typically come into the warehouse overnight.

Bernardin said Amazon expects to hire 100 on-site staff to start and then scale up to as many as 175 full-time, part-time and seasonal workers, and will also employ “third-party delivery partners.” At least 50 construction workers are anticipated to be hired as well. 

The planning board’s questions for Taylor and Bernardin ranged from the frequency and timing of tractor-trailer traffic to noise, lighting and truck exhaust impacts on the abutting Shamrock Drive neighborhood. 

Board members also wondered whether Amazon might utilize solar power and whether the parking lots could be smaller and moved farther from abutters’ properties, though there are wetlands on a fair amount of the acreage which Sebago’s Taylor noted limits some uses.

The board opened the meeting to public comment and a dozen local residents, from both the Shamrock Drive neighborhood and others, raised concerns echoing the board’s — noise, lighting, increased traffic along busy Main Street — as well as whether Amazon was planning to employ drones for delivery, and how the project could affect property values. 

One speaker said, “When this project opens, there will be a huge increase in traffic and commute times and a huge reduction in the quality of life, particularly in East Gorham and on Shamrock Drive. Property values will plummet.” 

The review was preliminary and the planning board clarified that it will be a minimum of four months before the board votes on the project; there will be at least two more planning board meetings on the final application, once it's submitted, along with at least one public hearing.

Planning board Chair James Hager noted that the town council does not have to take a final vote on the project; the decision to approve or reject the proposed facility rests with the planning board.

Amazon spokesman Mike Murphy told Mainebiz, “Nothing is finalized in Gorham yet. We’re always exploring the possibility of opening operations facilities — from small to large in scale — in communities across the U.S. ” 

Earlier this year Amazon opened its first distribution facility in Maine in Caribou.
 

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