Westborough’s building commissioner on Monday withdrew the August 26 zoning ruling that classified Amazon’s Prime Air drone pad as an accessory use of its 64 Otis Street warehouse, the ruling that sent the pad to a Planning Board site-plan review that, town officials told the Boston Globe, had to approve it as long as it met safety requirements. William Hezlitt’s November 2 letter says Amazon’s own withdrawal left the ruling with no active application to cover, and that any revised proposal will need a new zoning review.
The letter followed Amazon’s October 30 request to withdraw its site-plan application without prejudice, and it reached the public at Monday night’s Zoning Board of Appeals meeting, where more than 100 people had come for the hearing on the residents’ appeal of that same ruling. The board did not rule on the appeal, and Hezlitt’s letter says it makes no determination concerning future submissions.
Hezlitt Vacated the August Ruling Without Deciding the Zoning Question
Hezlitt’s letter says the August 26 determination is “withdrawn in its entirety,” according to the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, which quoted it. His office will no longer treat it as zoning clearance for the withdrawn proposal. The letter leaves the warehouse’s existing use untouched.
The town’s Prime Air page, which describes the August ruling as the Zoning Enforcement Officer’s interpretation, still listed the November 2 meeting as upcoming and had not posted the letter when DroneXL checked it on November 4.
The ZBA Continued the Appeal So the Planning Board Can Close Amazon’s File
The ZBA continued the residents’ appeal on Monday without hearing its merits. Benjamin Tymann, the residents’ lawyer, asked the board to wait for the Planning Board’s November 10 vote on Amazon’s withdrawal request, and said the appeal would not need action if that board grants it.
Tymann told the board the letter does “unequivocally remove that particular zoning determination,” the Telegram & Gazette reported. The Boston Globe reported that the board kept the appeal open and will take it up again in early December, and ZBA chair Justin Lundberg told the paper the two withdrawals “basically rendered the appeal null.”
Amazon’s hearing is still on the Planning Board’s November 10 agenda, listed as a site-plan public hearing for applicant Tareq Wafaie, who told a September 23 forum that Amazon still planned to launch from Westborough, possibly by the end of October. The revised agenda, stamped received by the town clerk on the afternoon of November 2, does not mention the withdrawal request. Rod Jane, whose name is on the appeal, told the Telegram & Gazette that residents expect Amazon will “probably be back with another application.”
Amazon’s Revised Plan Would Face a Pending Bylaw, a State Certificate and a Planned Bill
Amazon spokesperson Lindsay Hamilton told the Globe the company will file “a revised project soon, after further discussions with local stakeholders” and declined to describe it. The project would arrive in a town that voted 510 to 13 on October 19 to ban commercial drone launch pads and drop zones.
In the statement Amazon gave the Telegram & Gazette on October 31, she said Prime Air brings fast delivery and makes sound she compared to a passing car. The MK30, the drone Amazon proposed here, weighs 83 pounds, carries packages under five pounds and has no parachute.
The bylaw went to the attorney general on October 22, and the town says MassDOT’s Aeronautics Division must approve it too before it takes effect. MassDOT told Amazon on October 22 that it needs a state certificate of approval for the pad, with at least one public hearing first, and that it had no application. State Sen. Michael Moore told Boston.com on Monday that he and other legislators plan to file legislation to help communities address concerns like those Amazon’s plan raised. Moore also said Amazon had been a good community partner and “could have made this process a lot more difficult.”
Westborough would have been the first drone delivery facility in New England, the Globe reported, and DroneXL’s tracker lists no operating drone delivery site in the region as of November 4. Amazon’s other New England site, in North Haven, Connecticut, is waiting on a state coastal review, and First Selectman Michael Freda has said he was told no decision would come before 2027. The Drone Delivery Tracker now shows the Westborough zoning ruling as vacated. Residents with questions can call Amazon at 1-888-280-4331 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
On Monday I read Amazon’s withdrawal as a move to keep the August ruling and file again on top of it. Hezlitt’s same-day letter took that option away, and I was wrong that the ruling would survive the withdrawal. The next application starts with no zoning classification.
That puts the weight on what Amazon means by “revised.” None of Hamilton’s statements published from October 31 to November 3 says what aircraft a revised project would fly. If it is the same 83-pound MK30, with no parachute, carrying consumer orders under five pounds out of the same parking lot, I don’t see why a new zoning review would end any differently from the fight Westborough has had since August. A lighter aircraft that lowers parcels on a tether and carries a parachute, the way Zipline’s P2 does, would at least give Westborough something new to weigh. Until Amazon says what it wants to fly, I expect the next hearing to fill the Forbes Building the same way Monday’s did.
Sources: Worcester Telegram & Gazette, via Yahoo News, The Boston Globe, Boston.com, Town of Westborough, Prime Air Drone Delivery Service Application page, Planning Board agenda, November 10, 2026 (PDF).
DroneXL uses automated tools to support research and source retrieval. All reporting and editorial perspectives are by Haye Kesteloo. Read our editorial standards.
