Orchard Park, N.Y. (WBEN) - It was a packed house at the Orchard Park Municipal Building on Wednesday, as the Town Board hosted a scheduled public hearing with residents regarding the proposed zoning map and ordinance amendments to establish a new Gateway Mixed-Use (GMU) Zone, while also updating use controls for the Stadium Mixed-Use (SMU) Zone around the new Highmark Stadium.
The proposed amendments would allow a mix of commercial, residential, service, dining, cultural and sports-related uses, while also establishing updated setback, lot coverage and building height requirements intended to support a more walkable development pattern.
Of the some 30-plus speakers to address the Orchard Park Town Board on Wednesday, a majority of them spoke out against the proposed zoning in the areas around the new stadium.
"Orchard Park is at a turning point, and the decisions being made right now will shape our neighborhood, our quality of life, and our trust in this Board," said Sandra during Wednesday's hearing. "Let me speak plainly about the mixed-use zoning and who is really benefiting. These new laws aren't helping the residents now living near the stadium, they're not improving daily life, they're not strengthening our community. What they are doing is padding the pocketbooks of the Bills, and based on how these decisions keep lining up with the Board as well."
"I've always looked at Orchard Park as a satellite of Buffalo, a residential area. And it seems, to me, that these decisions that are made on the basis of entertainment and the new stadium are just forever going to change the character of our community," added Lou on Wednesday.
As for Bob, whether intentionally or not, he feels residents are being booted out of Orchard Park.
"You put in a gas station on the corner of Big Tree and Abbott Road - that is the biggest snarl up of traffic before and after the games, and now you added a gas station to it. Doesn't seem to be common sense to me," he said.
Orchard Park resident William feels if the town is going to entertain the idea of future development around the new stadium, work has to be done around the facility to uplift the area further.
"It doesn't make sense to me that you don't approach the state, approach the county, and beautify the area before you start sticking commercial buildings and other things in the area," William said. "We need to make our Orchard Park beautiful. We don't need Orchard Park to be a business-making enterprise, like other people have said, that don't benefit the residents."
One resident feels the mixed-use rezonings sound like a hodgepodge.
"Who knows what's going to be next to what? Why are we disrupting all these residential homeowners? We have a stake in Orchard Park. We send our kids here, our grandkids here to school. We take care of our properties. You're trying to bring in these people that want to build a business, who have no connection to Orchard Park. They just want to make money, and if they don't make money, they're going to leave. I mean, you're being so short-sighted," he said.
Orchard Park Town Supervisor Joe Liberti says the town is looking to rezone it to be commercially viable around the new stadium.
"Orchard Park is open for business, and we're hoping to get this zone approved so we can attract restaurants, retail, specialty shops, hotels, that sort of thing," said Liberti in an interview with WBEN. "More commercial along that corridor, where it's more viable on Abbott Road and Southwestern, where families can hang out, go to dinner, go to the game, and then hang out after the game as well."
While Wednesday's public hearing was not meant to be any sort of discussion with local lawmakers, Liberti wants to listen and make the residents' thoughts a priority
"We're here to listen to the public, we want to hear what they have to say. We've had six forums where we were listening to the public, we had about 150 people at each of those sessions," Liberti noted. "We were at Wings, we did it at the Community Center. We took a lot of their input and really, really changed out the GMU to like put a rubber stamp on what they wanted and what they would like to see Orchard Park look like."
One other talking point heading in the public meeting for residents was the rules surrounding private lots parking RVs for games and other events at the stadium.
However, even before any residents could speak against the matter, Liberti announced the town is pausing any enforcement for the RV parking at this time, and will plan to address it again sometime next year.
"In Orchard Park, we have hundreds of lots; I believe six of the lots were issued letters. We're going to work with them on a timeline to get them in compliance, and I'm also going to work with the Board to see if we can do something or extend something to the end of the year," Liberti explained. "We understand that they have contracts with these RV owners, we're being very sympathetic, we're listening to them. That's something that's on the table. I've talked to the Board about it, we're we're not voting on it tonight, but I definitely want to keep that momentum going"
