The Erie County Association of Township Officials Uniform Construction Code Appeals Board decided to approve a variance request for the Erie Sports Center's Dome.

After the meeting, solicitor for the board, Gery Nietupski explained why they voted the way they did.

"The basis of the decision was just safety, the board looked very carefully at the exhibits and all the testimony and concluded that with the variances it is still going to be a very safe building," said Nietupski.

The board approved the request with some conditions that architect Gary Matczak says following will be no problem.

"The conditions that they placed upon us were things that we have already presented that we would agree to or are already part of the building code so we are very pleased that they sorted this out in a way that makes simple sense and we have prevailed," said Matczak.

Erie County Executive Brenton Davis testified in favor of approving the request and believes granting it will benefit the entire county.

"This is a huge win for our county, it sends a message that we have a common sense Appeals Board here that is going to stand up against laws that lack common sense," Davis said.

Owner of the Erie Sports Center Troy Bingham says the approval is going to bring a positive economic impact to our entire area.

"What this does is it unlocks $30 million of of private investment into the Sports Center which is significant for the facility but more significant for the township, city, businesses that surround us, kids that we support in the community and programs we run, all of those will be more than economically viable through all the commercial activities and deals that we have lined up," Bingham said.