Agenda Packets - 2001/11/05 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Item No: 6 Meeting Date: November 5, 2001 Type of Business: WS City of Mounds View Staff Report To: Honorable Mayor and City Council From: James Ericson, Community Development Director Item Title/Subject: Discussion Regarding County Highway 10 Corridor Streetlights, Decorative vs. Standard. Date of Report: October 31, 2001 Background: The City Council reviewed various streetlight fixture designs last year and authorized the installation of decorative “Domus” lights along the realigned Edgewood Drive and standard shoebox lights along the newly paved path behind City Hall. While I do not have the documentation for the originally quoted cost of the individual lights, the decorative lights were about $4,500 each and the shoebox design about $2,500 each. Altogether, the cost of for the Edgewood lights and City Hall lights amounted to $55,995. In October of last year, staff approached the EDA regarding the installation of trailway lights in front of Walgreens and the Mermaid. Based on the direction to utilize decorative lights within the corridor, the EDA authorized expenditure of $82,500 of tax increment funds which was also to pay for the extension of Mermaid’s trail up to Woodale Drive. The lights in front of Walgreens cost $46,145, which has already been paid. The cost to install the Mermaid lights will be $63,476, which is more than what was originally quoted. Even with the Mermaid’s contribution of $23,084 for four of the lights, the total amount exceeds what was authorized by the EDA by about $4,000 and does not leave any extra to pay for the trail extension. Discussion: Given the increasing cost of the lights and the plan to install these along both sides of the County Highway 10 corridor, staff did some math and determined that the cost to install the decorative lights along both sides of the highway will be significant. There is approximately 19,000 feet of frontage along County Highway 10, less intersections and less frontage already improved with lights. The recommended spacing requirement for the “Domus” decorative lights is 95 feet with a maximum of 125 feet. (The lights in front of Walgreens and proposed for the Mermaid were spaced at 125 feet which we’ve discovered to be inadequate.) Thus assuming a spacing of one light per 100 feet, about 190 lights would be needed in the corridor. Assuming again a cost of $5,771 per light, the total cost to install decorative corridor lighting would be $1,096,000. This cost could however be less in return for bulk purchasing discounts. My thought would be to limit the decorative lights to a certain section of the corridor; for example, from County H2 to Silver Lake Road, and use the standard shoebox lights in the periphery areas. While I do not as of yet have a quote for the shoebox lights, it is