Orchard Park, NY (WIVB) – The next public hearing on the impact of the new Bills Stadium is set for the project to receive buy-in from the necessary environmental review studies.
A public meeting is scheduled for Thursday, October 27 at 6:00 pm at the Orchard Park Community Activity Center.
The Erie County Office of Environmental Planning said it had “produced a report summarizing the potential environmental impacts of the project and the extensive environmental analysis conducted to date.”
The report appears to be giving high marks to the project’s environmental impact, which is to be expected. The Erie County Council must approve the recommendation. We are planning to do it in December.
“A number of temporary and/or minor environmental impacts have been identified associated with the new stadium complex when compared to existing baseline conditions,” said the executive summary. “However, a thorough analysis of these potential impacts reveals that, where appropriate, such impacts have been mitigated as much as possible by the design of the project and that none of these impacts are material. I therefore respectfully submit that it is appropriate for the lead authority to issue a negative declaration against the project.”
Negative declarations are a good thing in this setting. According to the state Department of Environmental Conservation, “If an action is determined not to have a significant negative environmental impact, a determination of non-significance (negative declaration) is prepared.”
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Nick Veronica is a Buffalo native and will join the News 4 team in 2021 as Digital Executive Producer. Previously he worked for NBC Sports and The Buffalo News. Follow Nick on Facebook twitter Read more about his work here.
