Springfield light policy to get review

Before they change Springfield’s 500 power-hungry street lights to more energy-efficient models, the town will evaluate whether the 30-year-old street light policy is up-to-date. http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20120426/NEWS02/704269908

Published April 26, 2012 in the Rutland Herald Springfield light policy to get review By SUSAN SMALLHEER Staff Writer SPRINGFIELD — Before they change Springfield’s 500 power-hungry street lights to more energy-efficient models, the town will evaluate whether the 30-year-old street light policy is up-to-date. The town is beginning to switch its mercury-vapor lights to energy-efficient LED lights, with help from an Efficiency Vermont grant. But the town’s streetlight committee, on its maiden trip to inspect the first set of lights to be replaced, found that a good portion of the lights didn’t meet the town’s ordinance, which calls for the lights to be in densely populated areas, intersections or dangerous curves. The committee, which is made up of Select Board members Michael Knoras and David Yesman, along with the town’s two energy coordinators, Maryann Remolador and John Pugh, made the trip and came back to the full Select Board with a recommendation that five lights be eliminated and one light be added at an intersection. The five lights that the group recommended removing didn’t meet any of the town’s criteria, Remolador said. The lights to be eliminated are on Olive Street, Paddock Road, Lamson Avenue, Connecticut River Road, Perley Gordon Road, and the one to be added is at the intersection of Route 5 and Connecticut River Road near the Cheshire Toll Bridge. The light on the Connecticut River Road to be eliminated was the only light on the rural road, but it appeared to be at the end of someone’s driveway, even though it was on the list of lights being paid for by the town. Likewise, the light on Paddock Road “only lights up the (Black) river,” Yesman said. “It’s not needed and there’s not a safety factor,” he said. Remolador also asked Town Manager Robert Forguites if the committee could get the list of the streetlights to be changed in advance, so they could be reviewed beforehand. Forguites said the next wave of streetlight changes would be much bigger than the dozen or so in the first group, saying that Central Vermont Public Service, which is doing the work, told him the work would be done in four waves, which Forguites said, means more than 100 at a time since there are 484 lights left to change. Select Board member Michael Knoras said the so-called “circuit 37,” which was the first to be changed, was “all over the town” making the review time consuming. Remolador said that the 1983 streetlight policy was “quite outdated” and asked if it could be reviewed before the changeover really gets under way. “Now is the time to review it,” Forguites said. “The last time it was reviewed we used oil lamps on poles,” Knoras joked. Yesman said that the LED lights did a much better job than the older and more energy-glutinous mercury vapor lights. “It covers a great deal more space,” Yesman said, adding that there wasn’t the glare often associated with the older type lights. Pugh said that at one time CVPS had a policy that if a resident asked for a street light, it would install one for a small fee and the town would pick up the annual cost. The town has a map in the town hall that shows the private lights. The town currently pays for 499 lights, Forguites said. There will be six different LED sizes, he said, ranging from 55 watts up to 100 watts. In addition to 398 mercury-vapor lights, the town has 75 high-pressure sodium and 12 metal halide lamps.