By JAMES FINK
jfink@bizjournals.com | 716-541-1611

Sorrento Lactalis has offered an olive branch to the City of Lackawanna to help end a dispute concerning the Buffalo cheese maker's trucks passing through the Steel City.

The offer comes after state Supreme Court Justice Diane Devlin, in late August, ruled against efforts by Lackawanna to enforce a truck ordinance that prohibited vehicles weighing more than 5 tons from using portions of South Park Avenue or Ridge Road unless they were making a delivery to a Lackawanna business or residence.

The ordinance was clearly aimed at Sorrento, whose South Park Avenue plant is near the South Buffalo-Lackawanna municipal border and whose trucks routinely use South Park Avenue and Ridge Road as they leave company facilities. Sorrento employs 525 people at the plant.

The city was using the local ordinance to ticket Sorrento trucks and their drivers. However, Devlin ruled the ordinance was invalid and unconstitutional.

In the meantime, Sorrento officials will appear before the Lackawnna City Council Tuesday evening with an offer to pay for a $10,000 traffic study. They want to city to drop the ordinance, however - at least until the study is completed.

"It is our sincere hope that as a result of this ruling, the city will be amenable to resolving this matter as the ordinance continues to have negative impacts on our business operations, as well as the companies we rely on to make truck deliveries of products to our facility," said William Senay, Sorrento plant manager.

In December, Lackawanna offered Dorrence Avenue as an alternate route, but residents of that street - which covers Buffalo and Lackawanna - objected.

"A traffic study would put everyone on the same page as to what safety issues and improvements are needed for Ridge Road and South Park Avenue in the City of Lackawanna," Senay said.