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Special lights could encourage walkers If the City Council approves, the Southeast Plan may use shorter, brighter street lights By MELISSA MARTIN The developers of Medford's Southeast Plan want the City Council to allow pedestrian-scale lighting to encourage people to walk instead of drive in the 1,000-acre development. Randy Jones and Mike Mahar, co-owners of Mahar Homes, want to use 12-foot poles with glass lanterns, beginning with the first subdivision going up, Summerfield at Southeast Park, 218 homes planned at the intersection of Cherry Lane and North Phoenix Road. The shorter, brighter lights would be placed between intersections to encourage walking in the region where 10,000 people are expected to live in the next 20 years. The developers would install standard lighting at intersections, the taller "cobra-head" lights, Jones said. The City Council must approve the Southeast Plan's pedestrian lighting because it does not meet city standards and because developers are not proposing to pay for maintenance or energy costs. "I support what they are doing with the pedestrian lighting - the question is, who will pay for maintaining the lights," said Cory Crebbin, public works director. Most projects with nonstandard lighting are planned unit developments, in which the developer or the homeowner association pays for maintenance, Crebbin said. Summerfield is a subdivision, not a planned unit development, and the city would pay for maintenance of the lights. Medford maintains about 4,000 street lights and uses the yellowish, 100-watt, high-pressure sodium bulbs on residential streets because of their energy efficiency, said Ralph Browning, city traffic engineer. The pedestrian lights proposed for the Southeast Plan would use 175-watt metal halide bulbs, similar to the new lights along Central Avenue in downtown Medford. Metal halide bulbs give off a whiter, more direct light and have a three-year life. It's too early to tell how much more electricity metal halide bulbs use, said Don Burt, director of the Medford Urban Renewal Agency. The agency installed pedestrian lights recently when it built a parking lot and installed pavers on sidewalks from the parking garage on Sixth Street to Rogue Community College and the proposed new library on 10th Street. "There's a safer feeling with white light because you see truer colors - blues are blues and greens are greens," said Eric Iversen, planner for Medford Urban Renewal Agency, "You don't just consider cost in lighting - you look at the customers, the people that are shopping, working and walking. You want people to feel safe walking at night." The city spends about $480,000 a year on electricity for street lights and traffic signals, Browning said. Based on the city's recent 12-page billing from Pacific Power, it appears both the high-pressure sodium and metal halide bulbs cost $1.57 per month per light, he said. Another city that uses pedestrian-scale lighting is Jacksonville. Developers used lantern-like lights in Nunan Square, a historic-looking subdivision across from the Nunan Mansion on Oregon Street. Pacific Power maintains the lights and the city of Jacksonville pays a monthly service fee. Pacific Power maintains street lights in Medford and other cities where they have contracts with developers or neighborhood associations, said Monte Mendenhall, regional community manager. "We wanted to bring the lights down to the pedestrian level for aesthetic reasons," said Paul Wyntergreen, Jacksonville city administrator. The traditional tall lights are better for public safety reasons because the light reaches more places, but shorter lights look better, he said. "That's always a trade off - safety versus a softer, warmer, more aesthetic look," Wyntergreen said. The builders of Medford's Southeast Plan said they hope the council will approve of the pedestrian-scale lighting before crews finish installing underground utilities in the Summerfield subdivision. "We'll have trenches open soon for utilities, telephone, gas, power and water lines and we want to put the conduit for the lighting in at the same time," Jones told the council at a recent meeting. Jones and Mahar serve on the Medford Southeast Plan Implementation Advisory Committee, made up of planning staff, planning commissioners and council members. The committee has been meeting for years to work out the details of the master plan for 1,000 acres near Barnett and North Phoenix Road. For the past 13 years, developers and city leaders have been planning 5,000 homes or apartments, as well as a 46-acre commercial complex with row houses, a school, government office, church, retirement home and parks. Reach reporter Melissa Martin at 776-4497, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.