5.6.4 Town of Palm Beach Street Lighting Design
The undergrounding project will impact a significant number
of street lights within the Town. The impacted street lights
consist of those currently mounted to overhead utility poles.
When these poles are removed, the street lights will be taken
down with them. For this reason, these impacted street lights
will need to be replaced.
The Town currently maintains a catalogue of approved poles
and fixtures for various areas of the Town. For example,
residential areas are generally approved to have acorn style
fixtures while the commercial areas have lantern style fixtures.
It is estimated that 254 street lights will be impacted by this
program and will need to be replaced. A map of their locations
is found on the following pages. It should be noted that 69 of
the 254 street lights are already being installed by the Town
as part of a separate program. Street lights that are impacted
by the undergrounding program located within future street
lighting upgrade project limits are assumed to be replaced
by the street lighting project and not the undergrounding
program. The future street lighting upgrade project limits are
indicated on the impacted street lighting map contained in
this master plan.
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As shown on the impacted street lighting map, the spacing
of the impacted lights is not generally regular. This indicates
that the lighting levels within a particular area may not be
very uniform or may be less than a desired illumination level.
During the design of each project phase, we recommend
that discussions be had with the Town to determine if any
additional street lighting is desired to be installed concurrently
with the undergrounding project. For purposes of this master
plan, no additional lighting is planned for installation.
Additionally, the Town may consider installing FPL standard
lighting as a cost-savings measure. FPL currently administers
a street lighting program in which they will provide and
install street lighting. For the standard lighting options, there
FPL Standard Light Fixture
FPL Premium Acorn Fixture
is no capital cost for the installation, but the Town would be
required to enter into an FPL Lighting Agreement that would
require the Town to pay a monthly maintenance fee and
electrical service charges to FPL.
A significant drawback to the FPL standard lighting options is
that they do not look the same as the Town standard lighting
and would need ARCOM approval to be installed anywhere
in the Town. A premium lighting package is also available
from FPL, but these carry an additional capital cost on top of
the monthly maintenance and electric usage costs. The FPL
premium lights have a more decorative look that is somewhat
similar to the Town standard street lights, but would still
require ARCOM approval.
FPL Premium Lantern Fixture
Kimley-Horn’s subconsultant,
Mock-Roos and Associates, is
currently designing multiple
lighting projects for the
Town and has performed an
analysis of the costs related
to the FPL premium lighting
versus the standard Town
lighting. Mock-Roos found
that the initial capital costs to
install the FPL premium lighting is roughly equivalent to the
initial capital costs that the Town would incur to install their
standard lighting. For this reason, there are no cost benefits
to the Town to contract with FPL to install the FPL premium
lights.
5.6.5 Wireless Technology – Smart Poles
There were previous discussions at Town Underground
Utility Task Force meetings regarding the opportunity to
deploy “Smart Pole” technology in conjunction with the
undergrounding project to bolster wireless service. There are
various locations in Town with weak wireless signals and some
residents have noted they regularly experience dropped calls.
For the purposes of this master plan, the term “Smart Pole”
will refer to a street light pole that has been fitted with
antennas for cellular and/or WiFi devices. Smart Poles have
been deployed in many markets throughout the U.S. in
an effort to develop a distributed antenna system (DAS)
to improve cellular service. They have also been utilized to
expand WiFi in public places and to enable coverage for
municipal functions, supporting data needs of public safety,
public works, transportation and information technology.
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