KENILWORTH – LED lighting could be coming to Mount Forest’s downtown core.
Mount Forest BIA director Dwight Benson came to Wellington North council on March 24 with a proposal to replace downtown streetlights with LEDs.
The BIA estimates the replacement would cost about $25,000 and is suggesting the BIA and Wellington North Township each pay half.
According to BIA officials, the township would save approximately $3,000 a year after making the switch to LEDs.
The BIA’s reasons for the switch are numerous, including giving the downtown core a much brighter look and increasing safety and security.
“We’re just trying to have a new look downtown – light up the downtown a little bit differently,” Benson said.
“We have a nice downtown core with buildings – some nice heritage buildings downtown, so I think it would change the whole look downtown from that amber to a brighter look,” he said.
LED bulbs are more energy efficient, leading to financial savings and a lower environmental impact.
Benson also noted, “Mount Forest was in the news a lot in the last two weeks since this break-in at the music store,” and brighter lighting would increase safety and security.
The LED lighting would be replaced along Highway 6 from Queen Street to Birmingham Street.
There are 49 streetlights in that section, Benson said, and the poles are owned by the township, something over which there’s been some confusion.
“We thought the BIA owned them,” he said, but “I’m glad the town owns them, that’s a good thing.”
The mayor and councillors chuckled at this comment.
Benson said the BIA has been researching possible ways to switch the lights since fall and has found three potential paths forward.
One option is to switch out the heads on each lamppost and replace them with the same heads but set up for LEDs.
“The problem is, to replace the same head we’d probably be looking at $100,000 plus installation,” Benson said.
A second option is to replace the heads with a less expensive, lantern-style head, for about $75,000.
The third and most favourable option to the BIA would be to disassemble the existing fixtures, remove the transformers, rewire them, and then insert LED bulbs in the original sockets.
BIA officials have priced this third option with three electricians.
Benson said it’s difficult to determine the exact price, in part because its unclear exactly what the Electrical Safety Authority (ESA) will require.
“The ESA could ask for a fuse unit in the bottom” of each lamppost, Benson said.
“It’s hard to price because we don’t know what they would ask for in a fuse. There’s no reason why they should – but they could.”
The bulbs that would be used for the LED lighting last about 50,000 hours, or six years, Benson said.
They are unique, he noted, in that they have three settings.
“So if we aren’t happy with one, we could always change it. [It would] just be a matter of dropping the glass and changing the bulb.”
Mayor Andy Lennox said “When we did the LED lighting switch-over on most streets we had trouble finding an appropriate solution for downtown.
“So, great that you found a solution. I think that’s fantastic. My only concern is the supply of bulbs.”
Benson said the supplier told the BIA the bulbs “would be a standard bulb for quite some time … and we likely will buy about 10 extra anyways so you always have them.”
Benson said the BIA looked into grants for the project but have not yet found anything.
“It may come,” he said.
“If it does come, and it’s worthwhile, then you may look at something different.”
