HAMBURG, N.Y. (WKBW) — The Hamburg Town Board approved a major rezoning package for the Stadium Economic Impact Area, including the Erie Community College South Campus.
Town Supervisor Elizabeth Farrell Lorentz said it's a culmination of more than two years of work.
"It's a big step for the town to take," Farrell Lorentz said. "A very important step."
The zoning is designed to give future developers more flexibility, but there is no timeline yet. Instead, the town has created a vision for what the area could eventually become.
The 28-page Stadium Economic Impact Area Plan calls for a walkable, mixed-use neighborhood with restaurants, shops, housing, parks and public gathering spaces.
The goal is to make the area a destination even when the Buffalo Bills aren't playing.
"It must become a place where people want to visit throughout the year, as well as a place to live," states the town's plan.
Farrell Lorentz said that's important because Hamburg doesn't want the area's future to depend entirely on the stadium.
WATCH: Hamburg clears path for development around Buffalo Bills stadium
The plan envisions commercial and entertainment uses closest to the stadium, with mixed-use development and housing farther out.
It also calls for community amenities that include athletic fields, event space, an indoor sports rink and potentially a sports-related museum.
Frank Armento, a senior planning manager with Fisher Associates, helped develop the plan.
"This is the first step, and it provides the flexibility for any developer coming in to reimagine the site from a mixed-use perspective, entertainment, housing, parks and open space perspective," Armento said.
The town is looking at developments including Titletown next to Lambeau Field as examples of how a stadium area can become more than an event day destination.
But officials stress this is conceptual.
"This is a conceptual vision at this point," Armento said. "So any more detailed planning would be necessary."
For Hamburg, the rezoning is about putting the framework in place now, while the future of the ECC property and the surrounding stadium area takes shape.
"It's the first glimpse and that catalyst for the vision for what this area can become," Farrell Lorentz said.
