From white noise to extra bathrooms: Amazon tries to confront Milford complaints

MILFORD — Amazon representatives this week admitted the relationship between the town and company is "not perfect,” and mentioned several local changes meant to appease residents.

“We look forward to continuing this partnership. We know we have a long way to go and a lot more to improve upon,” said Andrew Cohen, senior manager with Amazon’s community operation team in the Northeast, during a public meeting with the Select Board this week. “We’re happy to continue to learn more and get better.”

The online retail giant operates delivery warehouses in Milford on Industrial Road and National Street, and hundreds of vehicles that deliver for Amazon, including subcontractors not owned by the company, park in lots around town.

The company’s presence has triggered a steady stream of complaints from residents since at least 2019. After a bumpy start, Amazon representatives began working with local officials to address complaints over the past year or so.

“You gotta understand where our residents are coming from,” Select Board member Paul Mazzuchelli said. “I think one morning they woke up and found themselves invaded with a surge of 18-wheelers, box trucks, vans, and it more or less took everybody by surprise. Milford being an older community, in the infrastructure and roads, really can’t seem to handle the influx of delivery trucks we seem to have.”

Cohen identified what the company’s local community operations team — which Cohen said meets with local leaders, including Select Board member Thomas O’Loughlin and Town Administrator Richard Villani — has discovered to be the biggest issues caused by Amazon in Milford.

Those are noise, lights, traffic and trash, he said.

Creative solutions

In Milford, Amazon has ended the company practice of vans honking their horns when coming in or out of a delivery station. It was meant as a safety measure, Cohen said.

The company is also conducting a sound study on National Street, he said.

The traditional beeping of a backup alarm has been replaced with white noise on Amazon-owned vehicles, Cohen said. The company is working with subcontractors to change their vehicles alarms, as well.

“Amazon has been responsive,” O’Loughlin said.

Light shields have been installed at both the Industrial Road and National Street sites, Cohen said, and additional trashcans and bathrooms have been added to the Industrial Road site in response to complaints of trash along Beaver Street.

“They also organized a volunteer event to clean out that entire stretch of growth,” Cohen said.

Dealing with traffic

In addition to signs the company has placed around town or is in the process of creating, drivers get regular coaching on how their behavior impacts the community, as well as what roads to avoid in town.

“I think we can all agree one of the primary concerns in this community is traffic,” Cohen said.

Select Board Chairman Michael Walsh said he’s noticed a positive change in Amazon-related traffic, recalling chains of delivery vans sweeping through intersections near the Industrial Road warehouse, without regard for the changing lights and steadily backing up traffic.

“From where I sit, where this was five years ago, and where we are tonight, it’s like day and night,” he said. “Is it perfect? No. But I think honestly, the best that we can, we’re headed in the right direction.”

Drivers are more courteous now, he noted.

O’Loughlin said one of the outstanding problems he continues to hear about is that noise from the newer National Street warehouse disrupts nearby neighborhoods.

“The issue at that particular facility at National Street, the noise levels that travel over into the residential neighborhood are of particular concern to the residents that live there,” he said. “Are there natural barriers, is there something we can do simply to give these folks just some peace? So they can live their lives, spend time in the backyard. But particularly late at night, the impact on sleeping.”

Officials from the town and company said they looked forward to more problem-solving.

“We really can’t enforce our way out of this. We can’t fine our way out of this because it’s not going to do any good,” Mazzuchelli said. “This is a great first move. I would like more meetings like this. When we work as a team, we can accomplish great things, instead of working on an individual basis.”

Alison Bosma can be reached at 508-634-7582 or abosma@gannett.com. Find her on Twitter at @AlisonBosma.