In a Aug. 18 letter to the Orange County IDA, Robert G. Murray, an attorney with Harris Beach Murtha of Buffalo, NY, representing Amazon/Scannell, submitted the amended IDA application, which is the second revision of its original application for a 20-year PILOT request on March 21, 2025. Amazon/Scannell issued its first amended application, seeking a 15-year PILOT worth approximately $80 million, on Sept. 23, 2025.

That proposal was eventually approved by the Orange County IDA, including $31,008,750 in sales and use tax exemptions. However, State-appointed IDA Monitor Brian Sanvidge issued a “Notice of Violation” thereby vetoing the IDA vote on the incentives in late November 2025.

Since then, the project has been in limbo, mired in litigation, with a judge upholding the IDA monitor’s veto of incentives, but another court upholding the Wawayanda Planning Board’s approval of a needed height variance and site plan approval among a host of court actions pertaining to the project.

While the full local benefits package is not available at press time, Mr. Murray stated in the letter to the IDA that the 10-year PILOT “will deliver positive impacts to the Town of Wawayanda and Orange County,” including approximately $10 million more in projected tax payments than the previous 15-year PILOT proposal.

He noted that the 10-year PILOT would generate more than $32 million in tax payments than its original 20-year PILOT proposal.

According to figures supplied by the Orange County IDA, the total incentive package to Scannell/Amazon from the 10-year PILOT is $69,707,010.88. Over the 10-year term, the PILOT will generate $11,209,389 in revenue for Minisink Valley School District and $5,431,119 for Ambulance and Fire. Once the PILOT expires, Minisink Valley Schools will receive $7.76 million in Year 11 alone.

The Orange County IDA has tentatively scheduled a public hearing on the new 10-year PILOT on Sept. 10 at the Minisink Middle School. A vote on the PILOT by the Orange County IDA Board could take place later in the month.

The controversial project proposed is considered to be among the largest ever private investment projects in Orange County. The plan calls for the construction of a five-story, Amazon robotic fulfillment/distribution center at 22 McBride Road in Slate Hill. Each floor (two below grade and three above grade) would total approximately 600,000 square feet.

L. Todd Dioro, president of the Hudson Valley Building and Construction Trades Council, said that negotiations are ongoing on a possible Project Labor Agreement but noted that he fully expects the project to be built predominantly by union workers. The building trades have supported the project in the approval process.

The project will create approximately 750 full-time jobs within three years of completion and up to 2,400 local construction jobs according to a third-party economic impact study. Under a new state law, any project that receives a PILOT from an industrial development agency in Orange County must pay prevailing wage or enter into a Project Labor Agreement with the Hudson Valley Building & Construction Trades Council.

Please see the September edition of CONSTRUCTION NEWS for further updates.