New package delivery warehouse with potential Amazon link to bring 800 jobs to Santa Maria

SANTA MARIA, Calif. (KEYT) - A planned package delivery warehouse has received approval by Santa Maria and will soon bring hundreds of new jobs to the growing city.

The Santa Maria Planning Commission recently voted 2-1 in favor of the project that is planned for a 32-acre site on West Stowell Road.

According to the City, the planned delivery warehouse will serve as the final step in the e-commerce fulfillment process, operating 24/7 to deliver goods to customers within 125 square miles adjacent to the location.

The developer of the project is Seefried Development Management, Inc., which has built similar warehouse facilities for Amazon.

However, the City of Santa Maria will not confirm at the current time if Amazon will operate the facility that will include 240,000 square feet of warehouse and industrial space.

"The city is under a non-disclosure agreement at the moment, which is very common in these types of projects," said Chenin Dow, Santa Maria Community Development Director. "We will announce that and look forward to doing that as soon as we can. With that said, from a land use perspective, it really doesn't matter who the company is in terms of what the decision that the Planning Commission is making. What they look at is, is this use appropriate with the context of what is nearby? Is it appropriate given the zoning? Is it appropriate given the traffic impacts and all of the things studying in the EIR (Environmental Impact Report) The end user will provide all of those inputs that affect all of those elements, regardless of the name of the company at the end of the day."

Based on the information provided by the developer, the City has estimated the warehouse will create approximately 800 jobs.

"500 of those are contract positions, where 300 are directly employed by the company, said Dow. "They've also indicated to us their company policy is that any employee of the project is able to access education funding, so they will pay for college. That goes beyond Alan Hancock (College) or a local college. They will cover UCSB for their members. They will cover Cal Poly, so huge opportunities associated with that workforce."