GORHAM – The Gorham Planning Board has approved a controversial proposal by Amazon to build a warehouse and distribution center on Main Street, despite organized objections by local residents.
“The fight is far from over,” local grassroots advocacy group Gorham United posted on social media.
The board voted 5-0 at its Monday meeting to approve the proposal by the retail giant to build a center just under 150,000 square feet in size.
The project has drawn fire from residents, including Gorham United, a local grassroots advocacy group.
Joshua Trombley, a member of the group, said this week that he is concerned about increased traffic and possibly expensive damage to roadways that weren’t meant for the heavy traffic a distribution center would require.
All of this, he said, right next to a residential neighborhood.
“For some people, it’s literally going to be right in their backyard,” he said.
Trombley agreed that someone should develop the land, but it makes more sense to re-zone the land from industrial to something more in demand, like housing.
“The choice is not between Amazon and nothing,” he said.
Town officials were not available for comment, but in previous interviews have said the town bought the land as part of a plan to spur industrial economic growth.
Town Councilor Charles (Lou) Simms told a Gorham United meeting in February that the property had “tepid interest” from developers, leading the council to vote 5-2 in August 2025 to sell the property to Amazon.
Discussions at the board’s meeting Monday night were brief and focused mostly on technical details of the proposal. During the discussions, Town Planner Carol Eyerman said she had a recent opportunity to visit a similar distribution center the company runs in Littleton, Massachusetts.
When asked for her impressions, she told the board, “Extremely well taken care of. That was my observation that day. It was extremely well-run and organized, clean, quiet.” She also noted that many of the company’s delivery trucks were electric-powered, and made little to no noise when leaving the facility.
The meeting had no public hearing Monday on the project. Gorham United posted a response to the board’s decision on its Facebook page.
In the Sept. 15 post, the group announced a petition to put a referendum question on the fall ballot to delay the project, and urged residents to sign it. The group also called for voting in new town councilors in upcoming local elections.
The group also said it would seek legal action to stop the project “if all else fails.”