WBFO's Nick Lippa reports
Increased water levels hurt shoreline economies and tourism in 2017 and 2019. In response, New York State created the Resiliency and Economic Development Initiative (REDI) in the spring of 2019. The initiative brought local municipal leaders together to discuss where money can best be spent to protect and sustain properties close to Lake Ontario. Wilson Mayor Arthur Lawson explains the benefits of being able to work with neighboring communities. “When you get that many community leaders meeting in a room so consistently, that's created the additional opportunities such as the bike trails," Lawson said. "And we were just kind of trying to work together softly to protect our businesses when the high water came, because the biggest thing was, we get high water, we wanted to get out in front of the press and make sure that everybody knew our businesses were open.” The elevated pier is expected to be complete by this October. “First off, it is going to be raised from 246 to about 252, which is huge, because in 2019, the water got to right around 249.5 and 250.5 so we're going to relay and scale that down," Lawson said. "They're redoing the stairway, they're going to redo this parking lot. We're going to landscape, but we're putting in a full time handicap accessible restroom. And then we're also bringing the electricity down in here too.”