Prairie Highlands
LED Street light Report
January 22, 2014
 
One of the services that your Prairie Highlands Homes Association attempts to perform is responding to concerns or questions from our neighbors regarding developments in the community. 
 
One of our neighbors recently raised concerns to the Board about a pair of street lights that were recently installed at the corner of St. Andrews Avenue and Turnberry Street.  The new lights, which use Light Emitting Diodes (LED) technology, are noticeably brighter than the existing sodium-vapor lights.
 
Officials from the City of Olathe have informed us that Prairie Highlands is one of 15 areas within Olathe that has been selected to test the new LED street lights.  Another 6 lights will be installed in the neighborhood within the next few weeks. The city will use this area to monitor the energy savings and maintenance costs of the new lights over the next year. 
 
This initiative began in 2011, when the City staff prepared a report for the City Council on the state of LED light technology.  A decision was made at that time by the City Council to continue monitoring the technology and to have staff evaluate the potential future use of LED lights throughout the city.   Since that time, the city has been studying the use of LED lighting on 30 foot and 40 foot street lights located primarily along arterial and collector streets.
 
On December 3rd, 2013, the staff reported the findings of this study back to the City Council along with plans to adopt LED lighting as the new city standard for use on developer projects (collector streets only) and on all capital improvement projects (CIP).  The report showed that conversion to LED streetlights will result in annual electrical energy cost savings and reduced maintenance costs.
 
The new lights that will be installed in Prairie Highlands are part of a second study to evaluate LED fixtures for installation on the city’s 14 foot poles typically found in residential areas.  This evaluation is slated to continue and expand through 2014.
 
During the 2015 budget process, the city staff will provide the City Council with an update on the lighting study and present them with various funding opportunities to help defray the costs related to installing the new lights.
 
Questions, comments, or suggestions regarding the City’s streetlight plans should be submitted to Rusty Hunsaker at 913-971-5170 .