LED Lights Coming To Wilsonville's Streets, City Council Says

WILSONVILLE, OR — City officials on Thursday approved two ordinances affecting the illumination of Wilsonville's streets when they voted in favor of changing the types of streetlights used in the city as well as who is obligated to pay for those new lights.

For the first reading at its meeting Sept. 7, the council adopted an ordinance changing the City Code to require the use of long-lasting, energy-efficient LED lights, rather than the previously used sodium vapor lights. That ordinance also switched the maintenance responsibility of those LED lights from PGE to the city of Wilsonville.

The replacement of all current sodium vapor streetlights will be gradual, city spokesman Mark Ottenad explained. As the old lights go out, he told Patch Friday, the city will replace the bulbs — and possibly the light poles, depending — with the LEDs that should last the next 20 years.

"LED lights are both longer-lasting and consume less energy than the street lights currently in use," Ottenad said, adding that while the city already owns most of its streetlight poles, PGE is willing to buy back the ones the city doesn't own.

The second light-related ordinance updated the City Public Works Standards to require public and private contractors to include dark-sky friendly LED lights in any new developments established in Wilsonville.

The council also approved a related resolution that will allow the city to bill customers for LED street lighting charges. However, this is more of a technical change to an older resolution than anything else, Ottenad said.

"It's not a new fee," he explained, noting that city residents previously paid as part of other city fees and expenses the cost of the older, sodium vapor lights. "Hopefully, the fee even goes down."

The second reading for both ordinances is scheduled for the Sept. 18 city council meeting.

Other notable items from the Sept. 7 city council meeting include:

• The approval of a $254,000 construction contract for the first phase of the "I-5 Undercrossing Trail Improvement Project." This project will see to the regrading and improvement of the trail currently running underneath the Interstate-5 Boone Bridge, which connects Memorial Park to Boones Ferry Park. Ottenad said that project will begin immediately and should be completed by late October; and
• The approval of a new two-year contract for City Manager Bryan Cosgrove.

Top Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images