Amazon wants to bring drone delivery to the Treasure Valley: What to know
The skies of the Treasure Valley could get a lot busier. Amazon has applied to the city of Nampa for permission to build a drone delivery hub at its fulfillment center at 5319 E. Franklin Road, a proposal that would put package-carrying drones over parts of Nampa, Meridian, Middleton, Star and portions of Kuna and Boise.
The company is asking the city for a conditional use permit to build what it calls a Prime Air Drone Delivery Center — a fenced section of the fulfillment center’s parking lot that would house launch pads, an operations building, drone storage and a battery charging system, according to documents filed with Nampa’s Planning and Zoning Commission. The addition would consume about 21,000 square feet and eliminate 114 parking spaces on the campus.
The Nampa Planning and Zoning Commission is scheduled to take up the application May 26. Amazon would also need separate Federal Aviation Administration approval before any drones could fly. Because of this, Amazon hasn’t committed to a start date for the drone delivery service in the Treasure Valley, according to reporting by KIVI-TV.
“We are always exploring new ways to get customers a wider selection at faster speeds,” according to a written statement from Amazon to the Statesman. “Prime Air currently delivers to customers in locations across the country and the response from customers using Prime Air has been overwhelmingly positive. We are currently working with local officials and evaluating opportunities to expand our fast, reliable drone delivery service to reach customers in the Nampa area.”
From any hub, Amazon says its delivery drones would serve customers within a 7.5-mile radius — an area of roughly 170 square miles, according to the company’s website. The company says deliveries would run daily during civil twilight hours, from 30 minutes before sunrise to 30 minutes after sunset, weather permitting.
Amazon has been working to expand Prime Air since founder Jeff Bezos first floated the concept on national television in 2013.
This story was originally published May 19, 2026 at 3:10 PM.
CORRECTION: This story has been corrected to remove accident data about the Amazon MK-30 drone. Several incidents attributed to the model of drone to be used in Nampa were caused by previous iterations of the technology in both commercial and testing situations.