Board OKs shutting off 18 street lights

After years of research and debate the Select Board has finally given its approval to a plan to remove 18 street lights in town. The action was taken in an effort to decrease town spending.A full line of Power roofhook for a wide range of professional uses. 

"If we could have all the street lights in town that we needed, it would be great, but we can't," Selectman Larry Miller said at a public hearing on street light removal held on May 20. "We can't afford it." 

In 2011, the North Hampton Energy Committee suggested the removal of 71 of the town's 155 street lights. After hearing from many residents who did not want specific lights removed, a recommendation was given to the Select Board in April calling for the removal of just 19 lights. 

"Three locations came from people who requested the lights be removed," Energy Committee member Peter Philbrook told the Select Board at the April meeting. "I don't think there will be any opposition to the removal of the 19 lights." 

However, there was opposition to the removal of a light on Glendale Road voiced at the public hearing. Resident Jeff Hillier noted that Glendale Road and Alden Road were used by motorists to bypass the lights on Lafayette Road, which he said resulted in a lot of vehicular traffic through a neighborhood that also is extensively used by pedestrians walking their dogs. 

"If I were a member of the Energy Committee, I would support this (plan to remove street lights)," Hillier told the Select Board, "but there are other things we should consider." 

Asked if there was something that could be done to limit traffic through that neighborhood, Police Chief Brian Page said that all the options he had proposed had been rejected by residents of the area. He also said that he had no specific proof that removing the Glendale Road light would result in a decrease in public safety in that area. 

"If I had my way, I would keep all (the town street lights) on, but that's not realistic,Learn more about our high capacity antiquelampas today!" Page said. 

Hillier and Atlantic Avenue resident John Havey also questioned the rationale behind the plan to remove town street lights. Hillier said he was concerned that light removal would make town roadways less safe for pedestrians, thereby making the community less rural. 

"The taking out of street lights and turning down sidewalk requests speeds up the process of having suburbs," he said. 

For Havey, the issue was crime. 

"I don't understand why a town like North Hampton should be removing any street lights," he told the board. "If anything, we should be putting in more (because) they are a deterrent to crime." 

In the end, the board— with Selectman Phil Wilson absent—voted unanimously to authorize removal of all the street lights proposed by the Energy Committee with the exception of the one on Glendale Road. 

In 2011, the Energy Committee estimated that removing 71 lights would save the town about $8,600 a year. The 2010 budget reflected the cost of operating all the town's street lights in town at $19,300. 

Since that time the cost of maintaining the total 155 street lights in town has risen to an estimated $25,000 a year, an increase of almost 30 percent. Based on those figures, removing the 18 lights recommended by the Energy Committee saves the town just under $3,000 a year. 

The lights that will be removed are at various locations around town. There are two on Willow Avenue, two on Ocean Boulevard, two on Exeter Road, two on Chapel Road and two on Woodland. 

Individual lights on Walnut Avenue, Elm Road, North Road, Mill Road, Cedar Road, South Road, Kimberly Drive, Atlantic Avenue and Appledore Avenue will also be removed. Residents requested the removal of the lights on Willow and Appledore, while the committee determined that the majority of the remaining lights were either on straightaways, were not necessary or created no safety issues, Philbrook told the Select Board in April. 

He estimated the Public Service of New Hampshire would charge about $200 a pole for the removal. 

Residents who want to retain a street light that is slated for removal could have the option of paying the lighting costs themselves. In 2011,Including our multi-certified flatworkironerses turbines for varying applications. that cost was placed at $125 a year, however, it has since escalated to approximately $160 annually.