ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (WKBW) — The Town of Orchard Park proposed to rezone the areas in and around the new Buffalo Bills stadium. This could pave the way for more development in the form of commercial and hospitality spaces in the area.
Orchard Park town supervisor Gene Majchrzak tells me the area around Highmark Stadium could very soon be in for some major changes.
“Where the current stadium is, to have your hotels, eateries, shops, and maybe a family-friendly portion of that, where you have a small carnival-type setting,” Majchrzak said. “You’ll see growth throughout the village and also as you move closer to the stadium.”
The proposal would rezone three different areas into “Development and Research 2” zones:
- The immediate area around both Highmark Stadium and the new stadium
- A zone northeast of the stadium around South Benzing Road
- A large zone at the northwest corner of Milestrip Road and Southwestern Boulevard
“Yes, it does allow hotels, that is a main driving force for this,” Majchrzak said.
Hotels, restaurants, bars, retail stores and more could come with that change, and it would also raise the town’s building height limit in those zones from 2.5 stories to five stories.
Majchrzak said the reason for that new max height is because that is all the further that the tallest ladder firetruck in Orchard Park can reach.
All the potential development does come with a few less anticipated changes, dozens of people’s homes are included in the rezoning proposal, like Lisa and Bill Young.
“Let them do it, I don’t care, but I don’t see them taking away our neighborhood,” Bill said.
The Youngs have lived next door to Highmark Stadium for 34 years and they’re not looking to go anywhere.
“They have to give me enough, because I’m retired, I don’t have a mortgage and I’m not going to get another mortgage moving somewhere else,” Bill said.
However, they do live next door to a property for sale, and with rezoning, any developer could buy it and build on it.
“If they build on our street, they should buy everybody out,” Bill said.
“If there is a developer that approaches them and wants to put something in an DR1 or DR2 zone, then they have an opportunity to sell their property at a pretty good margin,” Majchrzak said.
Alina Pierowicz with Verax Real Estate has properties listed for sale all around these areas, and to her, a zoning change is a good thing for growth in the area only increases her customers’ property values.
“Does that increase the price?” I asked.
“Absolutely, the land here is valuable and there’s very little vacant land by the stadium,” Pierowicz said. “We have been receiving calls, and we do expect more interest for other property owners to list, and we do expect more development.”
There is a public hearing for residents to voice their opinions about the proposal scheduled for October 2.
