ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — The Bills expect to start construction on their new stadium this spring, but people in the community still have a chance to voice their opinions about the plans. The Erie County Stadium Corporation held a public hearing Thursday on SUNY Erie Community College's south campus where people could offer comments and concerns.

"[I] enjoy going to a game when I can, but at the same time, I think a lot of respect needs to be paid to the neighbors who’ve been around longer," said Jay Knavel of Orchard Park.

Eric Matijow owns the popular Hammer’s Lot next door to where the new stadium will be built. While he’s expecting the project to move forward, he does have some worries about debris and noise during construction.

"We realize what’s going to happen here in the future," said Matwijow. "The Bills are staying in Western New York and we’re going to do our part, but we also want to make sure that if there are any problems we should have a contact person like we did with the other renovations that we can express and remedy that situation."

Some residents discussed the need for more safety measures in and around the new stadium, while the Orchard Park volunteer fire district asked the Bills and the county to consider helping them prepare to respond to a project of this size and complexity.

"Working with us to provide the ability to get the training and personnel up to speed so we can provide this service to you," said William Hanrahan, commissioner of the Orchard Park Fire District.

The stadium corporation approved the $1.4 billion stadium plans last month. New York State and Erie County will pitch in $850 million, while the Bills and NFL will be responsible for the rest, plus any cost overruns.  The plans include a 30-year lease and a community benefits agreement requiring the Bills to reinvest $100 million in the region throughout the lease. The corporation will meet again to discuss the comments from the public hearing.

"Some of the neighbors' issues, the fire company’s issues ... we’ll need to talk to the neighbors we’ll talk to the Bill," said Stephen Gawlik, senior counsel with Empire State Development.

With no major changes to the plans expected, construction is slated to begin in June, with the goal to open the stadium for the 2026 season. 

The senior counsel for the stadium corporation expects they’ll meet again later this month to talk about the negative comments, but says he did not hear anything from the meeting that would dramatically alter the plans.