Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/680793
12 MAY 18-24, 2016 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM NEWS Fayetteville's Public Works Commission is quietly improving the city's night scene by lighting it up. Bright LED street lights are replacing older fixtures. It's taking time and a lot of money. "In the coming fiscal year alone PWC will spend $7.3 million in thoroughfare, street and area lighting," said PWC General Manager David Trego. The LED lights being installed were chosen fol- lowing consultation with Fayetteville Police after a downtown pilot test project. Trego says the return on investment will break even in five years once the installation is complete because of the more efficient and longer lasting LED lights. PWC began in- stalling the new lights in 2014. Trego says the project should be completed by 2021 at a total cost of $41 million. Unfortunately, not all areas of the city will benefit from the upgrade. Another unintended consequence of the 'big bang' annexation several years ago was that areas formerly in the county are not being upgraded because the city-owned utility does not serve those areas. The N.C. Utilities Commission protects the investments of the power companies that provided electricity there prior to annexation. City Councilman Chalm- ers McDougald asked Trego about that. McDougald represents some of the areas served by Duke Energy Progress as well as Lumbee River EMC and South River EMC. Thousands of residents are on those electrical power systems that are now inside the city limits. "The street lights out there are 40 years old," McDougald said. That is no exaggeration. Duke Energy says about 25 percent of its outdoor lights use obsolete mercury vapor fixtures, identifi- able by their cool, bluish light. Most of those fixtures were installed decades ago and have long since come to the end of their useful life. PWC replaced mercury vapor lights years ago with brighter sodium vapor lights which have also become obsolete. PWC's Trego said he will invite representatives of the electricity providers which serve annexed areas of Fayetteville to come to a community meeting. McDougald's hope is the three companies will adopt a mutually agreeable program to upgrade their street lights. They'll also be asked to add addi- tional utility poles which currently are much farther apart than those on the PWC system. "LED lights last for 17 years at one half the cost of sodium vapor fixtures," said Trego. In 2014, Duke Energy Progress said it had launched initiatives to modernize outdoor lighting across its service area. It received approval from the Utilities Commission to replace more than 100,000 mercury vapor street and area lights with LED fixtures. The project is part of the utility's Lighting Modernization Program in its North Carolina service area which apparently hasn't reached suburban Fayetteville. The utility has also proposed a replacement plan for its customers in South Carolina. PWC Improves Street Lighting by JEFF THOMPSON Serious budget discussions have gotten underway and the Fayetteville City Council is already looking at adding as much as a million dollars to its budget to combat environmental issues. Members appear to be in sync when it comes to cleaning up roadside trash and picking up leaves in the fall. Some believe they can "borrow from Peter to pay Paul" by moving money around in the budget presented by the Interim City Manager Doug Hewett. "I've been chasing this rabbit for a year," said Mayor Pro Tem Mitch Col- vin, referring to debris scattered along roadways. He suggested that city ordinances should be updated to require residential property owners to maintain their yards. He wants to target rental properties in particular. Councilman Chalmers McDougald was even more annoyed that the administration appears to have ignored his call for improved loose-leaf col- lection. In response, Hewett said he needs direction from the entire Council to take action, not just requests from individual members. At the budget work session, there was a consensus to add at least $250 thousand in the FY17 budget to supplement roadside cleanup. The Fayetteville/Cumberland Recreation and Parks Department is responsible for street side maintenance and loose leaf collection. Director Michael Gibson offered an idea of having a crew with a pickup truck patrol Skibo Road to pick up trash and trim grassy rights-of-way with weed trimmers. The City already has a plan to do a better job of cleaning the All American Expressway and Martin Luther King Freeway. Loose-leaf pickup in the fall has been an issue for years if not decades. Hewett commented to Up & Coming Weekly that the words of former Coun- cilwoman Juanita Gonzales to 'just pick it up' "still ring loudly in his ears." Over the last few years, city crews using vacuum trucks have made single sweeps through the city using zip codes to define pickup dates. With 148 square miles to cover, the process has taken three to four months. McDouglad and others want to see a second sweep, which was canceled years ago, restored. If the city adds a second leaf pickup to its work load, it would cost another $700 thousand, according to Hewett. Much of that would be in the purchase of additional vacuum trucks. McDouglad says it might be cheaper for the city to contract with private haulers. "It's all about the manpower," said Gibson, when it comes to funding. The City will hold a public hearing May 23 on the $164 million budget which supports the general fund. Council is scheduled to adopt the budget in mid-June. More, Not Less In the City Budget by JEFF THOMPSON PWC is replacing street light bulbs with LED lights, which are brighter and more efficient. JEFF THOMPSON, Senior News Reporter. COMMENTS? news@upandcomingweekly. com. 910.484.6200.