Every one of East Hampton Town’s 729 streetlights will be replaced with energy-efficient LED lights within the next year or so, and the town has asked residents to weigh in on what type of light they’d prefer.
There are two possibilities, each a slightly different “temperature”: One light is a 2700 Kelvin; the other is a 3000 Kelvin. Examples of each can be found atop wooden stakes installed recently at the beach end of Atlantic Avenue in Amagansett, near the check-in hut. There are QR codes on the stakes; residents have been asked to go by at night and take a photo of the codes. That will produce a survey, to be returned anonymously to the town.
The two lights are the same wattage, but can, the town says, “provide different benefits.” The survey asks people to judge between them as to visibility for drivers, safety for pedestrians, glare, pollution, and more.
In future, all the lampposts in town will be metal (some are now wood), but there are three possibilities for the fixtures (the lamps on top that hold the bulbs), in two categories: “cobra head” and “decorative.” Cobra-head fixtures have been in use all over town for decades; decorative ones are seen mainly in historical districts.
The town plans to issue a bond to pay for the streetlight project, though on Monday night, addressing a meeting of the Amagansett Citizens Advisory Committee, Kim Shaw, director of the Natural Resources Department, predicted it would “pay for itself” in about five years, and afterward would reduce the cost of electricity over all.
She noted also that along with the new bulbs, a “dashboard” will be in place, recording the exact moment that a bulb goes out. “They can be fixed right away,” she said, rather than relying on passers-by or police, as is now the case, to inform the Parks Department.
Town Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc, the town board’s liaison to the citizens committee, also spoke briefly that evening, reminding the group that “the leaf-blower ban is in effect, and code enforcement is actively ticketing.” There were audible groans in the audience when he finished: In Amagansett and elsewhere, many landscapers seem unaware of the ban.
