Street lighting on task force agenda

Better street lighting in downtown Huntington Beach will be one of several topics discussed at the upcoming Downtown Task Force meeting Thursday.

The 15-member ad-hoc committee also will look at what worked and what failed when the Downtown Image was created to address problems a few years ago.

The meeting starts at 5:30 p.m. at the Main Street Library, 525 Main St., and residents are encouraged to attend.

The city’s energy project manager, Aaron Klemm, will review the lighting projects in the downtown area since 2009, including LED bulb upgrades and the retrofitting of fixtures with more energy-efficient devices.

“Given that technology has moved quickly, the fixtures you can buy today are twice as bright as the ones we bought three years ago,” he said.

Though the technology has improved, Klemm said, prices has stayed relatively the same.

He said the acorn-shaped globe lights on Main Street are just as expensive as they were a few years ago and that it would be up to the committee and council to determine whether to upgrade them.

The cobrahead-styled fixtures found on Pacific Coast Highway and other freeways are cheaper to buy, but would require a zoning change and millions of dollars for retrofitting, Klemm added.

Task force members said at the first meeting that better lighting would help illuminate dark spots for the benefit of police and for residents walking through the area at night.

Downtown Image had talked

about setting curfews for bars, using California Highway Patrol and Orange County sheriffs deputies to aid with impaired drivers, and creating an art walk in the city.

The current task force will also begin to organize what it believes are the most important issues to tackle.