ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — On the agenda for the Town of Orchard Park board meeting Wednesday night was an item related to rezoning the areas around Highmark Stadium--both the old stadium and new one.
Orchard Park officials are looking at ways to spur development once the new stadium is complete, and rezoning the area is the first step in laying the foundation for the next generation of development.
The main focus needs to be the area between Southwestern Boulevard and Big Tree Rd., including the sites of the two stadiums and the Orchard Park portions of Suny Erie south campus.
"Those are areas that are around the stadium that we're trying to make conducive to business development," said Orchard Park Town Supervisor Gene Majchrzak. "Restaurants, hotels, things of that nature."
Currently, the areas are zoned residential 1,3,4, business 2 and industrial 1. The plan is to convert these zones to "development/research 2." The town board has a detailed rendering of the areas online.
"We have to get public opinion," Majchrzak said. "We have to work closely with the existing owners of those particular properties."
But when it came time to discuss the rezoning issue during Wednesday's meeting, the board tabled the measure.
Supervisor Majchrzak said that there was a potential legal concern that the board needed to look into, and therefore opted to table the agenda item for a future meeting.
A public hearing was originally planned for August, but with the tabled rezoning plan, that meeting will likely happen sometime later in summer or early fall.
Some residents attended the meeting to learn more about the rezoning plan, and some that already knew a little bit about it had concerns.
"We really should do our best in order to bring businesses to that area," said Jon Pierowicz. "Make it really a year around destination beyond just the Sundays that the Bills are playing."
Pierowicz is an Orchard Park resident and real estate agent that is selling multiple parcels near the new stadium. His biggest concern is that Orchard Park officials are limiting themselves with the current rezoning plans.
"I didn't really see much mention of mixed use uses," Pierowicz said. "Which I think could be really a key to unlocking all the potential in that area."
Supervisor Majchrzak says that no development or zoning plan is set in stone and the town is close to securing a firm that will develop a comprehensive development strategy for the area.
" I think we're pretty close to a consultant that we would like to do the plan for us," Marjchrzak said. "Then once that plan is done, we can take the recommendations from that. It's not gospel. We can take the recommendations from that plan, and hopefully it mirrors what we're trying to do already."