Worcester’s City Council on Tuesday night, October 6, asked City Manager Eric D. Batista for a report on whether the city has any authority to restrict or control the Amazon Prime Air drones Amazon wants to launch from its Otis Street warehouse in Westborough. Parts of Worcester, New England’s second-largest city, sit inside the 7.5-mile (12-kilometer) delivery circle Amazon drew around the site.
Hopkinton’s Select Board voted the same night to organize against the plan. Westborough’s Planning Board, which reviews the site plan for the MK30 launch pad, had Amazon’s request to continue its hearing to November 10 on the agenda, as DroneXL reported in Amazon Asks Westborough to Delay Drone Pad Vote as Board Says No. A residents’ appeal of the pad’s zoning status, covered in Amazon’s Westborough Drone Launch Now Hinges on a Zoning Appeal, is still pending.
Shrewsbury’s town manager said in a statement published that morning that Amazon needs no approval from the towns where its drones only deliver.
Worcester’s Council Added a Jobs Report to Rosen’s Drone Order
Councilor-at-Large Gary Rosen’s order asks what regulatory authority Worcester has over the drones and how residents will be consulted on the project’s effects. Vice Chair Khrystian King amended it to add a report on workforce impacts in communities with drone delivery, and the council approved it, MassLive reported.
Rosen questioned in the chamber whether local businesses could compete with one-hour delivery. “I don’t see any good coming from this,” he said. He had told MassLive on Monday that he was presently opposed, and told Spectrum News the service may raise privacy, environmental and noise issues, and safety issues for animals, young people and seniors.
Councilor-at-Large Morris Bergman backed the report but said drones could one day bring prescriptions to people at home, and that he did not know whether the city could stop the technology. “I don’t know if we should,” he added.
Hopkinton Voted to Oppose an Amazon Hub It Says It Cannot Stop
Hopkinton’s Select Board voted unanimously on October 6 to reach out to stakeholders and officials to oppose the hub, the Hopkinton Independent reported. Members conceded the town cannot stop it, though the circle covers western Hopkinton. Amazon did not answer Chair Shahidul Mannan’s invitation to attend.
Member Amy Ritterbusch said it doesn’t sound like the town has any jurisdiction, because the FAA controls aircraft and flight patterns, and suggested writing to Hopkinton’s state and congressional delegation. Member Matthew Kizner called Westborough’s role “a wildly hostile act.” Member Brian Herr pointed to the coalition of neighboring towns that formed against a proposed casino in Milford as the model.
Shrewsbury Says Towns Can Regulate Launch Sites, Not Flights
Shrewsbury Town Manager Kevin Mizikar based his answer to Spectrum News on federal preemption. “Commercial drones fall under the regulations of the FAA; thus, local regulation is preempted.” His town is now reviewing its zoning bylaws in case a company wants to launch drone deliveries from a site in Shrewsbury.
Mizikar told his Select Board on August 12 that the town keeps authority over the ground end of the operation, as DroneXL reported in Amazon Wants Drones Over 6 Massachusetts Towns. Not All Have Been Told. Tallahassee’s city attorney told commissioners in September that Florida law bars a city drone ordinance and limits what the city can do about the drone port itself. Castle Rock, Colorado, went after the ground instead and froze drone hub applications for six months, a move DroneXL covered in Castle Rock Froze Walmart’s Drone Hub 7-0.
In Westborough the ground fight runs through two boards. Wednesday’s reports from MassLive and the Hopkinton Independent do not say how the Planning Board voted on the continuance, and Westborough’s online Agenda Center had posted no minutes for the meeting by Wednesday afternoon. MassLive, citing the town website, expects the next hearing no earlier than November 10. Westborough’s posted agendas through October 15, checked Wednesday, list no Zoning Board of Appeals hearing on the appeal. The Drone Delivery Tracker lists the Westborough hub as in review. The MK30 it would fly weighs 83 pounds at takeoff to carry a package of up to five pounds, and it has no parachute, as DroneXL reported in Amazon’s 83-Pound MK30 Heads To 500 Cities.
Residents can call Amazon at 1-888-280-4331 and say it is about drone delivery, or open the customer-service chat and pick “Something Else,” then “Amazon Drone Delivery.” DroneXL’s guide for residents covers what a town can still do once a hub is proposed.
DroneXL’s Take
My bet is the report tells the council what Mizikar already said: Worcester has no say over a single flight. Bergman asked the better question in that chamber. A prescription flown to someone who can’t get to a pharmacy is the case for delivery drones, and Zipline’s P2, which lowers packages on a tether from a hovering aircraft, is how I’d want it flown. Amazon is proposing something else here: an 83-pound MK30, more than 16 times its five-pound payload, with no parachute, flying consumer orders over parts of Worcester. On those terms I land where Rosen does.
Sources: Spectrum News 1, MassLive, October 7, MassLive, October 5, Hopkinton Independent, Town of Westborough Planning Board agenda, October 6, 2026.
DroneXL uses automated tools to support research and source retrieval. All reporting and editorial perspectives are by Haye Kesteloo. Read our editorial standards.
