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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-24-17 Utilities ��SpU Tit B��� N U d W PEACE r w ■ 1865 OFFICE OF THE CITY CLERK KAREEMAH FOWLER,CITY CLERK UTILITIES JULY 24, 2017 4:38 P.M. Committee Members Present: Dr. David Varner, Oliver Davis, Randy Kelly, Regina Williams-Preston(late) Committee Members Absent: None Other Council Present: Tim Scott, Jo M. Broden, John Voorde, Karen White, Gavin Ferlic Other Council Absent: None Others Present: Mike Keen, Therese Doreau, Eric Horvath Present: Graham Sparks, Bob Palmer Agenda: Bill No. 17-40- Solarize South Bend Light Up South Bend Update, Eric Horvath-Executive Director of Public Works Committee Chair Dr. David Varner called to order the Utilities Committee meeting at 4:38 p.m. Committee Chair Varner closed the committee meeting to reconvene in the full Council Chambers. The Committee meeting reconvened at 4:45 p.m. He introduced the members of the committee and proceeded to give the floor to the presenters of the legislation. Bill No. 17-40- Solarize South Bend Mike Keen, 1012 Riverside Drive, stated, I would like to encourage the Council to support this resolution. This is a short-term, community-driven initiative to help residents leverage their buying power to get better prices on solar power energy. It also helps to educate residents on the opportunities of solar power as well as simplifying the process of purchasing by doing some of the investigative work for residents and finding out how to put those packages together. This is to try to make solar more affordable,to educate and build awareness in our community and to simplify the purchase process. This demonstrates the power of local action as well as the leverage of partnerships. This is organized by local residents and we think this helps support the initiative of making South Bend a `Solar City.' We also think it helps support the image of being an innovative City that is trying to develop jobs by drawing attention to our leadership in the emerging green-economy. 455 County-City Building•227 W.Jefferson Boulevard•South Bend,Indiana 46601 Phone 574-235-9221 •Fax 574-235-9173•TDD 574-235-5567•www.SouthBendfN.gov JENNIFER M.COFFMAN ALKEYNA M.ALDRIDGE JOSEPH MOLNAR CHIEF DEPUTY/DIRECTOR OF DEPUTY/DIRECTOR OF POLICY ORDINANCE VIOLATION CLERK OPERATIONS Therese Doreau, Director of the Office of Sustainability with offices on the 13th floor of the County-City Building, stated, I would just add that this is an entirely grassroots established project and it is happening all over the State of Indiana. The City will not be a financial or legal party to any of these installations. This is strictly a contract between a resident or building owner and the solar installer. The Sustainability Office and MACOG are providing some technical support, but it is primarily a grassroots initiative and it is really great to see that our interest in being a cleaner energy City is spreading throughout the community to the point that residents are taking up these kinds of projects. Committee Chair Dr. Varner opened the floor to members of the public wishing to speak in favor of or in opposition to the legislation. There were none. He then turned the floor back to the Committee for further comments or main motions. Councilmember Jo M. Broden asked, When are your upcoming dates for the workshops? Mr. Keen replied, Our next workshop is August 5th at the St. Joseph County Public Library and there will be a few more after that. Councilmember Broden followed up, And how has your attendance been at your previous meetings? Mr. Keen replied, We had an overflow crowd at our first one (1) at the NNN which was more than fifty (50)people. Councilmember Broden followed up, Is there a cap on the number of applicants, or is it wide open? Mr. Keen replied, It is wide open but September 30th is the ideal date to get your contract in order to have a chance of continuing to get the full benefit. We will be continuous into the next year as well. www.solarizeni.org or call 574-287-1829 ext. 801 for any more information. Committemember Randy Kelly stated, I would like to thank Leah Thill for all the work she has done. He then made a motion to send Bill No. 17-40 to the full Council with a favorable recommendation. Committeemember Oliver Davis seconded the motion which carried by a voice vote of four(4) ayes. Light Up South Bend Update, Eric Horvath-Executive Director of Public Works Eric Horvath, Director of Public Works with offices on the 13th floor of the County-City Building, stated, This is a partnership with the Council that was primarily driven by Councilmembers White and Scott initially, but has been a popular program between the whole Council and the Administration. We appreciate your efforts in continuing to fund it. We essentially have three (3) components of Light Up South Bend. One (1) is money for City- installed lights and updates for existing lights to LED lights. The second program is what we call 2 the `Lamp Post Program.' It is a cost-share program with the residents where if they want to put a lamp post in their yard,they pay about two hundred and fifty dollars ($250)to get that installed and the City covers about five hundred dollars ($500). The third element is just adding additional street lights throughout the City to make it a safer and more comfortable City. We have criteria that we use and have been working with the Council by moving from District to District. We install about seventy(70) lights every year, and have been since 2014. We have seventy (70) queued for this year that we will be installing. I have those locations denoted on the map (available in the Office of the City Clerk). Mr. Horvath provided the Council with handouts (available in the Office of the City Clerk). The handouts consist of a copy of the lamp post application, the map of lamppost installation locations, and the history map of lamppost installations from 2014-2016. Committee Chair Dr. Varner opened the floor to questions from the Committee and Councilmembers for the presenter. Councilmember Karen White asked, Could Mr. Horvath take some time going into depth to the number of street lights for Light Up South Bend? We've had residents have some concerns about where lights needed to go, as well as the partnership with AEP. Mr. Horvath stated, It has been a project with a lot of great partners and AEP has been one (1) that has been significantly involved in the process. If you see in the maps in front of you now, we have made our way around the City. We take a map of the entire City by portfolio and we are looking at areas where we have greater than two hundred and fifty(250) feet between lights on streets. It really is about public safety and quality of life. We look at these darker areas and we try to fill in where we can, given that criteria of the two hundred and fifty (250) feet. If there is an area with greater than two hundred and fifty (250) feet between poles, and we've got a pole nearby, we stick it on an existing pole. If not,we install one which take a little bit more time. As you can see, we have worked our way around and there is a pretty good distribution throughout each district with regard to the number of lights. We are well over two hundred (200) lights installed to date and we will have another seventy (70) plus this year to be installed as well. Committeemember Oliver Davis asked, In terms of Prairie Avenue which is US-23, is there any consideration to put lights over there? Mr. Horvath replied, I can look into that. If there is ever an area,particularly an intersection or street where you feel there is poor lighting,please let us know. This isn't our only opportunity to do street lights as this program. The program is specific to neighborhoods but if we have an area that needs more light,we can look at that area. Councilmember Scott stated,There wasn't much of a policy or procedure on how and where to put up street lights before this initiative. Eric Horvath's Department took a look at lumen radius for each light and determined a policy and procedure for each type. This is a prime example of providing good services to the City. Councilmember Broden asked, Is there is a program where you can purchase a light through AEP and arrange for a monthly payment? 3 Mr. Horvath confirmed, Yes, they can do that. Councilmember Broden followed up, Who would be the contact for that? Mr. Horvath replied, I don't have off the top of my head who the contact is, but it is AEP they would contact. Committeemember Kelly asked, Do you know of any data that is available that might speak to how this program has impacted safety in various areas around the City? Mr. Horvath replied, We really haven't looked at that yet. I know initially when we were looking at the mapping, we were going to try and overlap safety and lighting. We haven't done that but that is something we can try to do. I think most cities are finding the real benefit of people feeling safer. On major corridors with a lot of traffic, the lighting helps prevent traffic accidents as well. I don't have any specific data as of now,though. Committeemember Kelly followed up, I think if we could see some correlation, certainly regarding the traffic accidents, that could potentially lead to increased understanding of value and,possibly, increased funding for the program. Councilmember White stated, I know we have also gotten information from the South Bend Police Department that there are a number of officers that have indicated the impact of the increased lighting. But from a statistical standpoint, we will probably have to do some additional mapping to contrast the start of the program to where we are now. Councilmember Broden asked, What are you doing for 2018? Mr. Horvath replied, We are looking at the same numbers and continuing the program as we have been. We've hit the worst areas first and we will start swinging back around and hitting the areas that still need it the most. AEP was somewhat limited on the numbers they could install in a year. If you remember, we were initially pushing really hard that first year and we got seventy- six (76) lights installed and they were tapped out in terms of getting their engineering done and getting that accomplished. We may be able to increase that number if we focused more on the areas where we have the existing poles. With no other business, Committee Chair Dr. Varner adjourned the Utilities Committee meeting at 5:05 p.m. Respectfully Submitted, Dr. David Varner, Committee Chair 4