New Energy Plan Calls For LED Streetlights Downtown

The Sarasota City Commissioners voted to approve an agreement with the City of Sarasota and Siemens Industry Inc for energy and utility reduction programs at the Dec. 6 city commission meeting.

One program approved was LED street lights  that will replace standard street lights in various sections around Sarasota. 

Those sections brought the most discussion to this topic because Siemens' plan had street lights at addresses that did not match with what the city commissioners had in mind.

"I think the bridge is important, St. Armands is important,"  said Mayor Kelly Kirschner. "These streets to me are important but the other streets don't fit our goal."

The streets in question include Boulevard of the Arts, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Central Ave.

He said those streets do not have enough foot traffic to warrant these lights when other areas of higher traffic are not included in this initial plan. 

"I think we as a community want to see it move forward," Kirschner said. "The flip side, we don't want  to be on the bleeding edge. I don't want to have Boulevard of the Arts looking like a Christmas tree and Main Street in the dark."  

Commissioner Suzanne Atwell said that when she attended last Saturday's holiday parade that there were stretches along Main Street where she could barely see in front of her. 

Glenn Marzluf, general manager of the utilities department, said the 67 units are schedule to go in along Boulevard of the Arts and that he can move those. Adding more in this phase will put the project over budget. 

Terry Turner, city commissioner, said another slight issue he had with the project was number of years before the city will see a return from its investment. Monday's commissioner approved article set the payback at 8-1 with an emphasis on lighting high areas of traffic. 

Meter Readers

An approved energy reduction program includes the installation of 20,000 residential and commercial automatic meter readers. These detect when leaks are present in a structure and are all run electronically.

Marzluf said  the meters  increases accuracy and saves energy. "Rain, heat, dogs, snakes, will never enter into the process of reading a meter," Marzluf said of the process for utility workers to walk onto private properties to read meters. 

Now, meters have to be read manually, but the new system will all done wirelessly and electronically. He said this will also help reduce the city's fuel costs by having to make fewer in-person stops.