Roswell officials are reviewing the city’s current street light installation ban following complaints from local homeowners concerned about safety in some subdivisions.
The citywide ban on street light installations went into effect last September in efforts to contain soaring electricity costs. The ban is scheduled to end on Dec. 31, and councilmembers must decide whether to begin installing streetlights again, or let the ban continue into next year.
Councilmembers and staff met on the issue earlier this week, but no action on the ban was taken. The council has asked staff to keep studying the issue and return with a recommendation at its next meeting.
A total of 6,800 street and pedestrian lights cover the city’s 42 square miles. Roswell’s transportation director Steve Acenbrak said the city is now up to $1.4 million a year just for electricity and maintenance of those lights.
The city pays an average of $1,800 for a street light, and around $30 per month for electricity and maintenance.
Acenbrak said it is not unusual to get street light installation requests from older neighborhoods, adding it comes from people generally concerned with crime.
The dilemma is managing both residents’ safety requests and the city’s checkbook, he said.
“Our police says our crime rate is very, very low,” Acenbrak said. “We have requests for street lights that say ‘I think it’s dark here. I think it may attract crime. So let’s go ahead and put up the street lights,’” he said. “That’s the kind of request that gives the city council pause.”
“Sure, we understand and are not against that, but what we’re balancing that against is whether there really is a defined security connection," he said.
Roswell resident John Goodhew said he believes the safety concerns with lighting in his subdivision, Willow Springs, are valid and being overlooked. Goodhew, who has lived in the subdivision for more than three years, said recent break-ins are putting homeowners in the 40-year-old neighborhood on edge, and the lack of adequate lighting doesn’t help.
“It’s about making (safety) the right priority,” he said. “Why is the city of Roswell spending so much money to put brick pavers in crosswalks when they could take those funds and redirect to the public’s safety?”
The next Roswell City Council meeting is 7 p.m. on Sept. 26.
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