Electric co-op offers streetlight options in Conway

 The electric company told the town last week the current lighting contract could be amended to allow upgrading the historic fixtures to LED lights of the same style, but the town will have to come up with the money to remove the old lights and install the new ones.

The utility company also laid out a proposal that would allow the town to replace the current lights with LEDs at no cost, but it would require replacing the historic fixtures with regular “cobra-head” style streetlights.

The issue has been under discussion ever since the Mount Washington Valley Preservation Association proposed a plan to replace the current lights with similarly styled LEDs in an effort to turn back on lights that were shut off in 2010 to save money.

At last week’s selectmen meeting, however, Janice Crawford, of the Mount Washington Valley Chamber of Commerce, suggested there might be other ways the preservation association could to use the $90,000 the project was projected to cost, particularly if there is an alternative for turning the lights back on.

“We would like to think we could turn these lights on,” she said, and the association could use the money for something else.

The $90,000 is part of $170,000 left over from a federal Main Street grant that the association has yet to allocate toward a project.

The alternative approach to turn lights on in North Conway was laid out by the New Hampshire Electric Cooperative in the same e-mail that the contract amendments were addressed.

The utility offered to put up “cobra-head” style lights with LED bulbs that they own, which would take the town off the hook for installation, removal and future maintenance.

“The current monthly cost for the co-op’s cobra-head streetlights is either $13.99 or $24.50 depending upon the size (includes everything – fixture, energy and maintenance),” N.H. Electric Cooperative said in the e-mail. “In the process of installing a new LED cobra streetlight we will remove an existing town-owned streetlight on the same pole at no cost. The existing contract allows the co-op to charge for this, but we are willing to waive it in an effort to assist the town in moving to a more energy-efficient technology.”

The shift in ownership is something selectman Larry Martin, who works for the co-op, raised at the meeting last week: “The town should be out of the utility business,” he said.

“You lose a little control,” public works director Paul DegliAngeli said on Tuesday, “but in general it’s more convenient.” He had yet to break down how the cost structures compared, but at first glance he said the utility’s proposed fee structure looked a bit high.

The town already contracts with the co-op for streetlights around town, although none of those lights use LED technology.

Town manager Earl Sires said the historic fixtures on their own poles at Schouler Park could stay even if the town opted to switch back to "cobra-heads" in the village.

Neither of the two LED options has yet won a clear consensus among town officials or the public. Either option should allow for a number of the lights that went dark to be turned back on, but some people find the historic lights “hideous,” as selectman Martin called them, while others like the look. Crawford raised concerns that where the historical fixtures sit on the utility pole makes it impossible to put up flags and wreaths, something others call “tacky.”

The only consensus seems to be around turning lights back on. Several people, including selectman Mary Seavey, have called the dark streets in the village a safety concern.

“I do think we have to act,” she said last week.