MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — New LED streetlights in Morgantown are being noticed, but not in a good way.
Some residents in the First Ward community are circulating a petition to add hoods or reposition the lights to prevent intrusion into homes primarily.
Morgantown Green Team member Jim Kotcon said getting the lights installed has been a multi-year effort with the goal of saving electricity costs and maintenance. The LED lights use substantially less energy and can last up to 15 years as compared to their high-pressure sodium counterparts.
“When we save $2 or $3 per light pole every month and there are about 1,700 streetlights in the city of Morgantown, that ends up being about $50,000 or $60,000 a year,” Kotcon said during a recent edition of WAJR’s “Talk of the Town.”
Kotcon has talked to the city about some of the concerns and he said they are working on solutions with FirstEnergy. Each pole is a little bit different and with the LED technology it can be difficult to properly aim the units during the daytime. The solutions could take coordination between the city, FirstEnergy and the city, a process that will likely take time to develop and implement.
“There have been a couple of cases where the lights ended up flooding a bedroom window or lighting up the inside of a home all night long, and we don’t want that,” Kotcon said. “We need to correct those problems.”
The LED replacement program started in the downtown area is a way to provide better lighting in an area where there are many activities at night. Crews then began to replace bulbs that failed in other parts of the city and began the neighborhood replacement program this year.
“Over the last year they’ve been replacing lights as they burnout with LED lamps for the beginning of the transition,” Kotcon said. “Now, they’re at the phase where they are replacing entire city blocks so it is more uniform.”
LED lighting provides a clearer and more accurate view, according to Kotcon. Studies have shown outdated technology can distort certain colors and create confusion in the event of a criminal investigation.
“A red car, a dark green car, and a blue car all look black, and that makes it difficult to identify people that have been in trouble, involved in criminal activity, or cars fleeing a scene,” Kotcon said. ”
Kotcon urged residents to contact Morgantown City Hall with any problems regarding the lights so they can develop an action plan to make changes. No timeline for changes has been identified yet, but the key people at both organizations are coordinating in order to formulate a plan.
“They’re very aware of those concerns and they are taking them seriously,” Kotcon said. “They want to work with local residents where a problem has developed so we can get Mon Power to help correct those.”