HAMBURG, N.Y. (WKBW) — Town of Hamburg leaders were all ears for residents on what they envision for the area outside of the new Bills stadium.
"It gives us the opportunity to reimagine things around the stadium, to think about how it relates to other areas such as the McKinley Mall corridor, take a look at underutilized and underdeveloped areas and think about the potential," Town of Hamburg Councilmember Elizabeth Farrell Lorentz said.
Tuesday was the first public information meeting for the Town of Hamburg, regarding the new NFL Stadium and its surrounding area.
This meeting was organized at Hilbert College's William E. Swan Auditorium, thanks to a New York State Department of State Grant, to look into the stadium's impact.
"So ultimately we want to be able to be proactive in creating the zoning for that area that will encourage the type of growth and reimagination that we envision as a community," Councilmember Lorentz said.
"There are more questions of how the process will move forward and what might be done and how it will be done." Rich Clark, Hamburg resident and a member of the Project Advisory Committee said. "So it's such a unique opportunity that I think some people might not be able to vocalize right now what they would like to see. They're more interested in the process and how it'll roll out."
Thrilled that the new stadium will be at their doorstep, resident Judy Clark said she hopes this new plan draws a national crowd to Hamburg.
"The only thing I can really think of is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. People go there year-round to see it. Why don't we make something like that, not a Hall of Fame, or maybe even a Hall of Fame of football or a museum of football or something that brings national people in," Clark said. "I would like something different and exciting to come out of it."
"Like they did in Green Bay or Cleveland. I was just in Cleveland down in Cleveland down there. Basketball is awesome. You walk over to the basketball stadium, you can walk down to the football stadium, you got the baseball stadium, and they got the hotels and all the bars right there in Cleveland. It's really a nice development they did down in Cleveland," Bob Reynolds, Hamburg resident and financial secretary for Hamburg Industrial Development Agency (HIDA) said.
Reynolds came with the rest of the HIDA board to learn more. He said it is important to reach out to city leaders in other parts of the country with experience in development.
"It's going be a very big project that we can get the development, but what kind of legacy do we put in there so we draw people in from around the country and what kind of incentives do we have to offer state and local to get people into our development of the stadium," Reynolds added.
There is no date yet set for the second meeting.
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