Amberlake HOA protests Amazon drones at weekend event

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) – On Saturday Amazon Prime held a meet and greet for the neighborhood at 1700 Sebesta Road. While the event saw many supporters according to College Station Mayor John Nichols it also saw a protest for the Amberlake HOA over the Amazon drones flying over their neighborhood.

Amazon Drones have been controversial in College Station since they arrived late last year. The top complaint has been noise. It’s an issue the Amberlake HOA members described as “incessant” and claimed flew over their homes on Brookwater Circle every five to 10 minutes. The HOA added that homes on that street are only about 500 feet away from the drone port.

“The enjoyment of property is impacted. Residents can hear the noise through their homes. We’ve got one undergoing some cancer treatments, we’ve got one that works at night and sleeps during the day and they say they cannot rest,” Holly Burk, a resident and HOA member said.

“Weekends they seem the busiest and people can’t sit out on their porches in their backyard and enjoy coffee reading the paper that sort of thing,” Tom Moore, a resident and an Amberlake HOA member said.

The HOA also said that the drones have driven out wildlife from the area such as deer, rabbits, birds, and more that used to be more prevalent before the drones.

This isn’t the first time the issue has been heard. Back in February Amazon presented its community update to College Station City Council. The community was split. Some residents from neighborhoods near the facility talked about the noise and other issues, however, there were also nonprofit groups that supported the company and said they’ve been a great partner in the community.

“We appreciate that they’re strongly engaged in the community they should be in a positive way in terms of nonprofit participation, educational activities and so forth and that should continue,” Nichols said. “They’re here anyways on the ground all over the community they have Amazon trucks everywhere and lots of customers in town so we appreciate them being in town whether they’re doing drone work or not.”

Nichols said that the city is pleased to have Amazon Drones in the community and the company’s support, but there are concerns about the nuisances the drones can create in neighborhoods just 1,000 feet from the port.

“We have you know strongly encouraged them to listen to the customers, listen to the citizens that are impacted and do what they can to mitigate the impact on neighborhoods with their business operations,” Nichols said. “In the longer term keeping in mind,c this is a business development project that’s not necessarily here to stay if is and when it does we would hope they would locate to an area that is more industrial but close to the rooftops so they can serve their customers.”

Back in February during the update, Amazon said it would be rolling out new drones that would be 40-percent quitter. They also told residents they were listening to their feedback.

Amazon sent a statement to KBTX addressing the protest:

“We’re thankful for the relationships we have with the City of College Station and are proud of the investments we’ve made in the community. The views shared at our community event over the weekend don’t represent the vast majority of what our College Station customers tell us, however, feedback is important to us and, as we always have, we’ll continue listening to our customers to improve their experiences and our programs,” Amazon said.

As for the Amberlake HOA members they said they weren’t against the drones they would like the facility to be moved somewhere else.

“We would like a partnership from Amazon and our city leadership to determine solutions. I love the mantra there is a better way let’s find it drones are the future this was not done well let’s figure out how we can do it well,” Burk said.

“Amazon’s competition is already flying out of more industrial and city parking lots shopping malls where the noise is already there and it’s not affecting anybody,” Moore said.

Nichols said they expect to have Amazon give an update to the council every six months to a year. He added the city has no control over Amazon operations other than being the entity that authorized the commercial zoning so that the facility could be at the location.