North Haven First Selectman Michael Freda says no decision on Amazon’s plan to fly up to 1,000 Prime Air drone deliveries a day from its North Haven warehouse will be made until sometime in 2027, “from what we were told, what we heard.” He said so after a Monday, October 26, meeting of the New Haven region’s mayors and first selectmen. Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), which is reviewing the plan, has received more than 1,000 letters of public comment, WTNH reported on Wednesday.
On October 3, Freda wrote that Amazon had put the plan on hold and agreed to make no decision before a round of meetings it would run. Monday’s meeting was the South Central Regional Council of Governments, the board of the region’s 15 municipal leaders. State legislators met Amazon earlier this month, and Rep. Dave Yaccarino of North Haven says Amazon put off the controversial questions they asked. Amazon says it will keep meeting community members and other stakeholders in the coming months.
DEEP’s review runs on a federal clock, and the agency told CT Mirror columnist Jim Cameron, in a column published October 18, that its final ruling would come by mid-November.
Federal Coastal Rules Point DEEP’s Ruling to This Fall
Federal consistency rules gave DEEP 60 days from the FAA’s August 17 request, to October 16, plus one 15-day extension if asked, and neither DEEP’s notice page nor the FAA’s review index mentions 2027. The FAA cannot act before day 90, November 15, without DEEP’s concurrence or an agreed alternative.
Those dates assume DEEP treated the FAA’s August 17 package as complete, because the 60 days run from receipt of the full supporting information. The same rule lets the FAA presume concurrence if DEEP misses its deadline, and lets both agencies agree to a different period. DEEP officials told House Republican Leader Vincent Candelora that the FAA had granted a 15-day extension of the public comment period, WTNH reported on October 4, and the deadline moved from October 1 to October 15. If that extension also covers the 60-day review, DEEP’s answer would be due October 31. The mid-November date DEEP gave Cameron for his CT Mirror column is where the 90-day mark falls. Any extension beyond the first 15 days takes the FAA’s agreement under 15 CFR 930.41. DEEP’s notice page, checked on October 29, still lists only the October 15 comment deadline and does not mention a decision date or any extension of DEEP’s review agreed with the FAA.
WTNH’s report does not say who told Freda about 2027 or which decision the date refers to. DEEP’s coastal ruling, the FAA’s operating approval for Amazon, which is not public, and Amazon’s own call on when to launch are all still open. The FAA’s drone environmental review index listed 110 PDF links and none for Connecticut, North Haven or New Haven when DroneXL checked it on October 29. The FAA can clear a hub against its July 28 national environmental finding without posting a site document of its own.
North Haven Lawmaker Says Amazon Put Off Legislators’ Hard Questions
Amazon met state legislators this month and answered anything controversial with “We’ll get back to you; we’ll see,” says State Rep. Dave Yaccarino, a North Haven Republican who wants residents to have a greater say. Some lawmakers left with more questions than they brought in, WTNH reported.
Freda wants Amazon to hold separate meetings in each affected community inside the 7.5-mile (12-kilometer) delivery zone, a request he made to WTNH for himself and his colleagues. Gov. Ned Lamont and Republican state Sen. Ryan Fazio, both running for governor, have said municipalities should make the decision, according to the same report. WTNH’s account of Amazon’s statement gives no date for a public session.
Connecticut law gives towns the launch pad and nothing over the flights. Public Act 17-52, codified at Conn. Gen. Stat. § 7-149b, bars any municipality from regulating the operation of a commercial drone, as DroneXL laid out in its North Haven filing guide. North Haven’s Planning and Zoning Commission used the ground lever on May 4, approving application P26-17 by 5-0. Westborough, Massachusetts, the other New England hub that surfaced in September, went the other way on October 19, when Town Meeting voted 510 to 13 for a bylaw banning commercial drone pads, pending the Massachusetts attorney general’s review.
Residents inside the circle can reach Amazon at 1-888-280-4331 or through the customer-service chat on Amazon’s site, choosing “Something Else” and then “Amazon Drone Delivery.” The rest of what they can do is in DroneXL’s residents’ guide, and the Prime Air tracker follows North Haven alongside Amazon’s other hubs.
DroneXL’s Take
Residents and officials should plan around DEEP’s ruling, which the agency puts in mid-November. It is the one decision here with a federal rule and a date, and it goes on the record whatever Amazon says in a meeting. No DEEP or FAA record I checked carries the 2027 date.
Yaccarino’s account worries me more than the calendar does. Amazon wants up to 1,000 flights a day over the New Haven region, and legislators who asked hard questions about it got, by Yaccarino’s account, “we’ll get back to you.” I’m for drone delivery when the cargo earns the flight, and Zipline’s P2, which lowers packages on a tether and carries parachutes, shows how it can be done. The MK30 carries 5 pounds in an 83-pound aircraft with no parachute, and both drones in the Tolleson crane strikes fell into parking lots after hitting the crane. Amazon should put its answers to the legislators in writing before DEEP rules.
Sources: WTNH via Yahoo News, October 28, 2026, WTNH via Yahoo News, October 4, 2026, CT Mirror, October 18, 2026, Connecticut DEEP public notice, 15 CFR 930.41, FAA NEPA and Drones, Connecticut Public Act 17-52.
DroneXL uses automated tools to support research and source retrieval. All reporting and editorial perspectives are by Haye Kesteloo. Read our editorial standards.
