SJ Council approves new policy for local streetlights

Historic districts and conservation areas to get ornamental lights

By Kate Carter

The San Jose City Council on Dec. 18 approved a new city standard to install ornamental street lighting in the city's conservation areas and historic districts.

The city has three conservation areas, including Willow Glen's Palm Haven neighborhood, and five historic districts. Most of the areas are located in Districts 3 and 6, near downtown San Jose.

District 6 City Councilman Ken Yeager said he has worked for the past year to change the city's policy regarding street lighting in historic areas, ever since he met with residents of the Hanchett and Hester Park conservation area in December 2000. He said the streets in that neighborhood lack almost any street lighting, but that neighbors didn't want standard street lighting that could interfere with the neighborhood's historic character.

The Palm Haven conservation area has only three streetlights, all ornamental, that are located at the edges of the neighborhood's central grass area.

Officials from the city's department of public works respond to requests for street lights on a first-come, first-served basis and wouldn't agree to ornamental lights because they are more than twice as expensive as modern streetlights.

"The city policy was, there was no policy, and if you wanted them, you had to pay for them," Yeager said.

Neighbors were opposed to paying the difference in cost for the ornamental streetlights. So, the underlit areas continued to be moved to the bottom of the department's list without getting the requested street lighting, Yeager said.

The new policy will allow these districts to receive some of the more appropriate streetlights and modern lights at major intersections and along major thoroughfares. In addition, it calls for reduced required illumination levels in these districts that will reduce the number of necessary ornamental lights, thus bringing costs more in line with those of normal streetlights.

"To reduce the standard of lighting in these neighborhood--it took a long time to get that part," Yeager said.

Part of the reason for the proposal's approval is that property owners in historic districts and conservation areas must receive additional permits to make significant building changes. Yeager said that if residents must be held to higher standards to preserve the characters of the neighborhoods, then so should the city.

Yeager said he is now working on a way to move the postponed projects up in the public works department's priority list. Currently, these areas must wait on the list like all others. The challenge with speeding up these projects, though, is that they are still more expensive than normal street lighting projects and the city has not yet allocated additional funds for them. According to a staff report, the installation of all the needed ornamental lighting projects will cost about $2 million, and the city has budgeted only $1.8 million for street lighting projects for an entire year.

Yeager also said the city is working to establish a clear policy for declaring an area either a historic district or a conservation area. The city's existing historic areas were designated long ago, he said, and no one remembers how they were created. He said he hopes a new policy will be available for council review and decision by June.

Local Notebook

Carl Heintze: Do people really need copies of themselves?

Sports Briefs

High school sports