ILLUMINATING IDEA
Refurbished parking lots on North Front St. will have motion-sensitive lighting fixtures
Light poles that feature detectors to increase illumination when people or vehicles trigger them will be installed in the two municipal parking lots on North Front Street.
Fourteen poles and fixtures have been ordered by Kingston from Graybar Electric Co. in Albany for a total cost of $22,022, according to City Engineer Ralph Swenson.
Besides the brightening feature, the poles will be designed to accommodate electric vehicle charging apparatus in the future, though additional spending would be required, Swenson said.
Swenson on Wednesday was uncertain when the new poles will be up and operational but
“This will reduce power consumption and cost and will also reduce the effects of light pollution.” — City Engineer Ralph Swenson
said it should be before the end of the year.
Swenson said the lights will be off during daytime hours, come on at “full power” in the evening, then dim by 50 percent a few minutes later. Then,
whenever there is movement near a pole, the light on that pole will return to full illumination, he said.
“As long as there is no moving activity, the dimming feature will take effect,” Swenson said. “This will reduce power consumption and cost and will also reduce the effects of light pollution.”
“As soon as you walk [or drive] ... within the detection limits of a pole, the motion detector will sense that and that light will be turned out to full power,” the engineer said.
The two parking lots are across the street from each other — one next to Nekos-Dedrick’s Phamacy, the other next to the Redwood
Bar + Restaurant (the former Parent-Teacher Store). The lot next to the Redwood is to be repaved starting Thursday, with striping to follow, allowing it to reopen before the end of the month, Swenson said. The lot across the street was repaved, striped and reopened last month.
The improvement of the
two lots is costing a total of $486,000, of which the state is kicking in $366,000.
As part of the project, a new drainage system has been installed to prevent storwater runoff into the nearby Esopus Creek, and plantings in the spring will replace trees that had to be taken down.