Amazon environmental permits hastened

Hamilton County is close to gaining a state environmental permit for the site of a proposed Amazon.com distribution center.

A public comment period on the impact of wetlands on the 80-acre parcel ended Thursday, said Tisha Calebrese-Benton of the state Department of Environment and Conservation.

She said no public hearing was requested relating to the permit and state officials will make a decision on it "as quickly as possible."

Meanwhile, EPB trucks were roaming the Enterprise South industrial park site earlier in the week.

Still, the Amazon center in Hamilton is not a 100 percent sure thing, said J.Ed. Marston, the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce's vice president of marketing.

"We're working to get them," he said.

Amazon officials could not be reached for comment Friday.

An Amazon official has said the proposed million-square-foot center, and another like it in Bradley County, would create over 1,400 jobs along with more than 2,000 on a seasonal basis. A $139 million investment is attached to the two projects.

Benton said the Hamilton project already has received a state construction permit. Site work could start on the piece of the property that's not wetlands, she said.

AMAZON JOBSAmazon officials said jobs at a proposed Chattanooga fulfillment center would have an average annual wage of at least $30,500.

Todd Leamon, Hamilton County engineer, said such work could begin at the site as early as next week.

To build the Hamilton facility and mitigate a three-tenths of an acre wetlands, the county has proposed creation of 1.5 acres of wetlands in nearby Collegedale along Little Wolftever Creek.

In Bradley, a public hearing is scheduled Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the Cleveland/Bradley Chamber of Commerce, 225 Keith St. SW, relating to an environmental permit on that project.

To construct the Bradley fulfillment center at Interstate 75 and Lauderdale Memorial Highway, 2,375 feet of an intermittent unnamed tributary to South Mouse Creek would need to be relocated, a document shows.

Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.

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