Progress on the last mile warehouse front

Over the past few years, numerous last-mile warehouses have been planned for Red Hook. This has caused concerns about pollution and truck traffic.

The facilities are being built “as-of-right” which means companies like UPS and Amazon are able to move into the neighborhood without having to worry about having their property rezoned. Their facilities are built according to existing zoning rules.

Assembly Member Marcela Mitaynes has just sponsored a bill that could help limit the environmental impacts of last-mile warehouses by forcing them to come up with air pollution reduction plans, despite the zoning.

It would create a point system in which warehouses would have to take part in a carbon based point system. The incentive would be to reduce their impact by doing things like using a waterway to transport materials and using electric vehicles or bikes rather than large trucks.

“This is about the future of our community and ensuring that we’re as healthy as possible,” Mitaynes said in an interview with THE CITY. “I think we can be a driving force to really show how we can be proactive on some of the stuff that’s happening, particularly because these things are happening so fast.”

According to THE CITY, Mitaynes’ proposed bill would require a reduction in emissions and mitigation plans for e-commerce facilities over 50,000 square feet that are already in the neighborhood. The bill would give residents some say in what happens in their neighborhood and could help limit the number of last-mile warehouses coming to Red Hook.

Jim Tampakis of Richards Street’s Tamco Mechanical, has repeatedly called for legislature like the bill Mitaynes proposed. He has worked with city and state administrators for many years to get them to figure out a way to force last-mile warehouses take advantage of the waterfront in Red Hook, using barges to transport materials rather than relying solely on trucks. He has suggested a possible tax of five or ten cents per delivery to raise money needed to pay for the necessary infrasture upgrades, such as cranes and loading docks.

“One concern for me is that bill would help limit big trucks owned by companies like Amazon and UPS but that private ones would be exempt,” Tampakis said. “So many of the deliveries made for last-mile warehouses like Amazon Flex are done by these private ones so that would still cause a lot of pollution.”

In addition to the bill proposed by Mitaynes, UPS is beginning to take part in a trial program to transport five trailers by barge from Red Hook to Bayonne, New Jersey, which is a 4.5-mile trip. UPS said on LinkedIn that the trial will be done in partnership with Red Hook Terminals, Hughes Marine, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration, and the New York City Economic Development Corporation.

“It’s great to see them starting a trial run and it’s a good start,” Tampakis said. “My question right now is where do the trailers go after they get to Red Hook terminal? I also know that the Department of Sanitation can fit about 150 40-foot containers on barges so they’re able to transport so much more which means way fewer trips are needed. The Ro-Ro barges [being used in the trial] allow cargo to be rolled on and off quickly so they both have benefits and it would be great to take advantage of both ways to move cargo.”

This is especially important because the UPS facility is expected to be 1.2 million square feet, which is even larger than most of the other last-mile warehouses in the neighborhood. Using the waterfront for transportation would significantly reduce the number of trucks that have to be used, and having a trial run is certainly a step in the right direction.

“I’m really passionate about this because I have three grandkids and don’t want them to have to deal with this,” Tampakis said. “We were supposed to have an environmental study two or three years ago and it still hasn’t happened yet. We need to come up with a comprehensive plan with the Economic Development Corporation, the Department of Design, and the Department of Transportation.

The UPS trial run and Mitaynes’ proposal are both very good news and this is the time to step up and make changes instead of waiting for the things to get worse.”