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No tailgating in Orchard Park private lot

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WBFO News
Buffalo Bills fans tailgate at a game.

No fans. No private parking lots. That was the message Wednesday from the Erie County Health Department to the Orchard Park Town Board.

You won't be going out to Orchard Park this fall, parking in a private lot and monitoring what's going on down the road in the football stadium. The county Health Department told the Town Board it won't allow private lots if fans aren't allowed to attend the games.

It's all part of the COVID-19 fight that the Buffalo Bills may be on the field, but there won't be any cheering from nearly 80,000 empty seats. It won't be the same.

At its meeting Wednesday, the board had planned to officially set a public hearing for Sept. 2 on town rules for private lots. Public lots were already closed.

The Health Department says it has jurisdiction over the many private lots with the stadium closed and will hold onto that control until rules barring fans in the seats go away. Town Board members say when that happens, it will surface the regulation proposal again.

Mike Desmond is one of Western New York’s most experienced reporters, having spent nearly a half-century covering the region for newspapers, television stations and public radio. He has been with WBFO and its predecessor, WNED-AM, since 1988. As a reporter for WBFO, he has covered literally thousands of stories involving education, science, business, the environment and many other issues. Mike has been a long-time theater reviewer for a variety of publications and was formerly a part-time reporter for The New York Times.
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