New Amazon warehouse a concern for Santee neighbors

SANTEE, Calif. — Homeowners in Santee say they’re concerned about noise levels that may come after an Amazon warehouse is built in the bordering city of El Cajon. Some of the residents held an unofficial meeting today with the developer of the project.

About a dozen people showed up today, most of them living in homes nearby. They wanted more clarification from developers on how the new warehouse may impact their lives and property values.

The neighbors say it’ll be a 24-hour operation. That’s one of the main issues these Santee residents say they have with Amazon building a distribution center.

Bill Barry, who has a home close by is worried about the noise, potential traffic and his property value.

“A lot of people worked very hard in this neighborhood to buy these houses. His project is going to make money, Amazon’s going to make money, the city’s going to get tax money and we’re going to lose our value,” Barry said. 

Barry says they’re also concerned about losing their quality of life. Joseph McCormick, who also lives in Santee near the project, said that he believes the project will start in just a few months and there’s not much they can do about it.

“We believe as residents, it’s Amazon and it can’t be disclosed for whatever reason. We have over 1,200 vehicles being parked up against our homes seven days a week, 24 hours a day. We’re just concerned about all the backup beepers, traffic coming in and out and how it affects our lives,” McCormick said. 

McCormick admits officials in El Cajon have corresponded with him via email, but he says they haven’t addressed their concerns. However, the property developer Chestnut Properties did respond and came out to speak with the group.

“What I told them is that we would attempt to manage the project being the best neighbor that we possibly can. Including the issue of noise from backup beepers, that we would consider adding landscape features that would help mitigate sound transfer from a backup beeper,” said Lee Chestnut, owner of Chestnut Properties. 

While the residents here say they’re going to continue pushing back about the noise, Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez introduced a bill today aimed at improving working conditions at warehouses like the one being built here.