Third Lehigh Valley meeting involves local freight, agriculture interests

Press release

Assemblyman John D. Ceretto, R-I-Lewiston, oversaw the third Lehigh Valley Rail Yard stakeholders meeting Monday at the Niagara County Economic Development offices. The group met with local agriculture stakeholders and freight forwarders to discuss how some of their needs are currently not being met, and how the redevelopment of the rail yard could help address these issues.

"Today we had a tremendous amount of idea sharing and dialogue with agricultural and freight groups in our ongoing efforts to revitalize the Lehigh Valley Rail Yard," Ceretto said. "We have significant work to do, but we are making progress."

The Lehigh property is approximately 65 acres located on the north end of Lockport Road in Niagara Falls. Monday marked the third meeting for the stakeholders group, made up of city, county and state officials. The group first met in March of this year. Ceretto and the stakeholders group have been working to secure the development of the property as a transportation center in order to spur local economic development and create good-paying jobs.

"Today's dialogue was encouraging, and I believe we are one step closer to fully utilizing the region's assets - the bridges, the Canadian market and the Niagara Falls International Airport to help grow our economy and strengthen the region's shipping and agricultural industries," Ceretto said. "I look forward to working closely with these groups as well as other stakeholders to ensure that our local needs are met through the future development of the Lehigh Valley Rail Yard site."