ORCHARD PARK, NY (WKBW) — The Providence Farm Collective in Orchard Park unveiled its new barn on Friday but cannot occupy the space until the Town Board approves the farm's water use.
"This has been a three-year process; we have been told no for various reasons. Even after we met all those concerns and went above and beyond, they still withhold their approval," said Isaac Frisina, Farm Manager at PFC.
The frustrations from the farm collective come as they have completed the $2.3 million project, and with winter weather arriving, the farmers want to be able to use the facility.
"We are vegetable farmers, so we use a lot of water. We want your produce to be clean when you buy it, and we want it to be cool in the summer. It's a hot summer, and we want to pull our produce out of the fields and make it cool quickly," said Frisina.
On Wednesday evening, the farm's lawyer, Paul Weiss, attended the Orchard Park Town Board meeting to seek answers.
"All we are asking for is to be able to do what we are approved to do. We seem to be on the one-yard line, and the Town keeps moving the yard line," said Weiss.
Before the Town meeting at 6 p.m., I contacted Town Supervisor Eugene Majchrzak but received no answer.
The Providence Farm Collective will have to wait to use the state-of-the-art facility.
"I hope this has a happy ending; we are working as hard as we can to navigate all of these issues instead of what we love to do, which is farm and helping people farm," said Frisina.
