South Portland to 

shut off street lights

Light poles throughout South Portland are going to get a little brighter before they go dark forever. Planning and Development Director Tex Haeuser said he will have city staff tie red tape to 112 street lights – including 24 on Broadway, six on Ocean Street, five on Evans Street and 29 on Main Street – he and Code Enforcement Officer Patricia Doucette have identified to turn off in order to save the city an estimated $19,000 per year. 

“These lights are on bigger, more major streets, mostly arterials,” Haueser said. “We talked with [Emergency Medical Services] people and they said to leave street lights on at intersections for safety purposes but there are plenty of places along these arterial roadways where we see an opportunity to turn off these street lights.”

A majority of the council was supportive of the concept, although many said they were concerned about dealing with members of the public who would prefer a street light be left on. Doucette said Central Maine Power had encouraged city officials to offer citizens the option to “adopt a light,” essentially taking over the $15 per month charge it takes to power it, from the city.

“If somebody feels very strongly about having that street light 50 feet from their house on Highland Aveneue, they can pay for it,” she said. 

Other options included forming a committee to collect citizen complaints and make recommendations for the council, a process Haeuser said he thought might be a little too complex. 

“We want residents to give comments and reasons, the planning staff are the people to here those,” he said. 

Ultimately, the council agreed to back the effort with their official approval in an upcoming meeting. 

“Proper planning helps the process,” Mayor Tom Blake said. “Let’s do it right.”

Cape council delays intersection stoplight decision

The fate of Maine Department of Transportation’s plans to install a $1.1 million stoplight at the intersection of Shore Road, Scott Dyer Road and Route 77 in Cape Elizabeth will sit idle until November, 2009 – exactly a year since the council has been faced with the issue. 

“I don’t think there’s any need to rush,” Council Chairman Jim Rowe said. “It will be a full year to observe the intersection.”

The council voted to table the issue in a 4 to 3 vote with councilors Sara Lennon, David Sherman and Penny Jordan in the minority, despite the possibility that $437,000 in Portland Area Comprehensive Transportation System, or PACTS, funding already allocated for the project could be lost, Town Manager Michael McGovern said. 

According to a letter from the Maine Department of Transportation to PACTS, he said the town could also be held liable to reimburse MDOT for the $133,000 they have devoted to the project already. 

For Rowe, collecting data about the safety of the intersection outweighed fiscal concerns. 

“There have been no fewer than two more accident at that intersection [since November] neither involving serious injury,” he said. 

“However, citizen safety is a priority for me. If, God forbid, we had a fatality at that intersection and I had the ability to prevent it and consciously chose not to, I would submit my resignation from the council that day or the next. I would find it very hard to live with myself.”

McGovern said he would encourage PACTS to honor the new timeline for the funding until the council is able to vote on the project.