ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. - We're a week and a half away from the home opener for the Bills, and the Town of Orchard Park says it will continue to enforce parking lot rules for people who live near the stadium.
They won't be able to expand their makeshift parking lots throughout the season.
The Town of Orchard Park unanimously passed a law against expanding parking lots within a one-mile radius from the center of the field Wednesday night. Previously, it was just a moratorium. People who already have parking lots are grandfathered in, but no new lots will be allowed to pop up and lots can't expand to allow more cars.
At Wednesday’s public hearing, only one person spoke in favor of the law and one spoke against it. The person who spoke against it was an attorney representing a lot owner. That lot owner's family has parked cars across the street from the stadium for more than 45 years.
"If this local law doesn’t pass, they'll be able to park cars within two feet of my house, which would be a safety hazard as far as I'm concerned," said William Young who wanted the law to pass.
"There are plenty of spaces available, but I have to cut it off and I have to say no even though there are desperate people out by the road waiving 20-dollar bills and 50-dollar bills because there's nowhere to park," said lot owner Mark Lester.
Lester says he plans on discussing his options with his attorney Thursday morning. He thinks he'd be able to expand his lot from one-hundred to two-hundred spaces if the town didn't have this law.
Anyone caught violating this new law will face fines of up to five-hundred dollars a day.