Orchard Park residents raise concerns about gas station proposal

ORCHARD PARK, NY (WIVB) — Orchard Park residents expressed concerns Wednesday about a proposed gas station on the street below Highmark Stadium.

At the City Council meeting, members learned more details about the gas station, but residents responded with harsh criticism, saying that fans were not the focus during football season.

Four residents spoke out against the idea, saying that if the gas station is built at Abbott and Big Tree Road, it would cause a lot of traffic problems. This came after a traffic study commissioned by the group that wanted to build the gas station found that there would be no problems.

“Traffic will come to a standstill in all directions. The gaming experience will be ruined by the three-hour traffic jams every week,” said Gary, a concerned Orchard Park resident. “Why make a bad traffic situation worse?”

“If you have traffic flowing in and out of that supermarket during rush hours on game days, it’s going to be chaos,” said Orchard Park resident Bob Fessler. “I doubt they would have given their approval and said there would be no negative impact if they had taken game day traffic into account.”

The developer planning the gas station argued that there is a need for this type of business in the Orchard Park community. He said that since it is a convenience store with a take-out counter, most people who stop there are just passing through, which should not impact traffic.

“It’s not a typical destination,” said attorney Sean Hopkins, who is representing the potential developers. “You drive by there, it’s convenient to stop on your way home, on your way to work, at lunch and then drive away again.”

Mark Ebeling, owner of Danny’s South, believes traffic will be a major problem, but is even more disappointed that these are the city council’s priorities.

“If Orchard Park sees this kind of new development, it’s a joke,” Ebeling said. “There should be a hotel. There should be many hotels, not many, but a few.”

He also said that more business would be good for everyone and that he would be happy to see larger establishments such as hotels and other restaurants opening in the area.

“The more stores that are open, the more people come,” Ebeling said. “Right now, it’s a boring area. When Walmart was down the street, it was beautiful. Now, there’s no traffic. Traffic will increase as more stores pop up.”

The City of Orchard Park has also released its rezoning proposal for areas near Highmark Stadium.

The board was scheduled to vote on July 3 on whether to hold a public hearing on August 7, but board members ultimately postponed the action for legal reasons. No further details were provided.