Jeff Bezos wants a piece of rural Gorham – but the natives aren’t buying it.
Amazon got the council’s green light Tuesday to buy 94 acres along Main Street for $4 million, despite no detailed plans for the property.
The residents of the Portland bedroom community are demanding answers, saying it’s unclear what Amazon will do the property.
“They hit you between the eyes without any notice at all,” George Gilman told WGME. “No advertising.”
Carol Molchior wishes the town council would have provided residents with more notice, and an opportunity to speak their minds.
“I don’t think giving notice to residents is a priority at all,” Molchior said. “Jeff Bezos and Amazon have way too much power. The thought of them exerting even more power in my own neighborhood makes me sick to my stomach.”
So much for taxpayer heartburn – the council voted 5-2 to begin preparing the paperwork for the sale.
Town officials defended the sale.
“Just because we have a contract doesn’t mean that they are, in the end, going to buy it,” Thomas Poirier, Gorham director of community development, said. “They’ve got to go through all the permitting processes, and then they make a decision of whether to buy it.”
Council Chairwoman Suzanne Phillips said Amazon first approached the town six months ago.
“I think it’s going to provide job opportunities, maybe, for people to live in Gorham and work in Gorham,” Phillips said.
The parcel that is part of the sale agreement is located along Main Street (Route 25) and bordered by Shamrock Drive, Cross Town Trail and Jewett & Noonan Transportation.
The council vote came with dissension.
“I am skeptical as to whether this is the right path forward, and I think it would be prudent to take a little more time to think about it,” said Councilor Lou Simms.
With the council’s approval, Amazon will now have to present their plans for the property to the town’s Planning Board and Planning Division.
Amazon last week opened its first site in Maine, a 12,000-square-foot delivery facility in Caribou, according to Mainebiz.
