Project Sailfish, an Amazon warehouse measuring approximately one million square feet at the intersection of routes 17K and 747, was granted a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOT) agreement at the Town of Montgomery Industrial Development Agency (IDA) special meeting on Friday.

After the approximately $75 million project had been approved by the Montgomery Town Board, Zoning Board of Appeals and Planning Board, the IDA granted a $20.5 million tax break on Friday with a 5-2 vote. IDA members John Macioce and John Dickson, First Vice Chairman Edwin Williams, Chairman Jeffrey Crist and Treasurer Matthew Stoddard voted in favor of the agreement, while Second Vice Chairman Stephen Rainaldi and IDA Member Robert Santo were opposed.

Crist spoke highly of the project, noting that the warehouse will generate more than 800 full-time equivalent jobs within two years of completion. Additionally, the project will provide employees with at least 75 percent of the average Orange County per capita income. He added that building the structure would also create more than 300 construction jobs.

“The value of the land is and will be more than $5 million,” Crist said. “The project will preserve and rehabilitate a historic structure on the land.”

Under the 15-year agreement, an approximately $2.7 million PILOT agreement would be assessed during the first five years. This is in sharp contrast compared to the zero PILOT payment proposed in 2018. Over the 15-year agreement, the project would contribute nearly $26 million in PILOT payments.

“We worked hard on the final version of yesterday’s approved PILOT to maximize the benefit to our community,” Montgomery Town Supervisor Brian Maher said on Feb. 15. “It is a better PILOT agreement than the taxpayers originally had and moving forward it is my goal to work with our local IDA and the VCSD [Valley Central School District] to put an end to 15-year PILOTS in Montgomery.”

Maher added that this PILOT mandates that 80 percent of the labor hired will be local workers.

“In the absence of a PILOT those over 300 jobs would undoubtedly go to cheaper labor from other states who would invade our community and not support local businesses,” he said. “We have seen this happen on other construction projects.”

According to New York State Law, if Amazon withdrew from this PILOT, they would still be eligible for a 485-b program. This program, much like a PILOT, would allow Amazon to have a 10-year payment program where they still only pay half of their taxes in year one, incrementally increasing over a 10-year period. The 485-b program would not force Amazon to use local labor.

“In short, no matter what, Amazon would be getting millions of dollars in tax relief without this PILOT agreement due to New York State Law,” Maher said.

Many residents were upset about the project’s approval. The warehouse has raised concerns regarding traffic, potential water contamination in the nearby Tin Brook and stormwater runoff. Residents have also criticized the project because the Town of Montgomery already has a warehouse corridor on Neelytown Road. Walden resident Mary Ellen Matise is advocating for more diverse businesses in the town.

“They [the IDA] have $700,000 in their budget and they’re supposed to be using that to attract businesses,” she said.

Trees started to be cut down at the intersection of routes 17K and 747 on Tuesday to make room for the Amazon warehouse. Regardless, the citizens group, Residents Protecting Montgomery (RPM) will continue to stand for what they believe in.

“RPM: We will continue our fight,” RPM founder Don Berger said on the RPM Facebook page.