Meeting over converting Santa Fe streetlights to LEDs to be online only
Feb. 20—City officials will meet with residents via Zoom on Thursday evening to discuss the next phase of Santa Fe's LED streetlight conversion project, which involves Public Service Company of New Mexico.
The project sparked controversy when it began in early 2021, with advocates for dark night skies raising concerns about the color temperature of the new bulbs. The issue spurred such intense feelings Mayor Alan Webber decried what he called a series of personal attacks on a city official.
After weeks of public outreach, city councilors voted in May 2021 to adopt new lighting standards based on recommendations by the International Dark Sky Association and later that year began converting about 3,500 of its own streetlights to more energy-efficient LEDs.
Estimates show the city is expected to save about $135,000 a year on energy costs and maintenance.
As it plans to launch the next phase, converting bulbs in lights owned by PNM, it will hold what's known as an early neighborhood notification meeting. While many such gatherings have been held in person near the site of a proposed project, this one can only be attended online.
The decision disappointed at least one resident, who argues it's likely not everyone who might want to weigh in will have access.
"The public should be outraged that remote city meetings are being scheduled in 2024," Nicoletta Munroe wrote in an email. "Transparency is the primary objective. Gathering together for an in-person ENN meeting brings us together to solve the issues face-to-face."
Public Works Director Regina Wheeler said the virtual format was selected in part because the project affects people across the city. A virtual meeting also is more accessible than an in-person meeting, she said, and is more protective of people's health.
The decision was made out of "an abundance of caution not to transmit any communicable diseases through a room full of strangers and to ensure equal access," Wheeler wrote in a text.
"While ENNs are governed by City Code and have specific requirements for notifications and other aspects of the meeting, they are not governed by the Open Meetings Act," she added, referring to a state law.
Melanie Majors, executive director of the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government, said she could not immediately say whether the practice of holding virtual-only neighborhood notification meetings violated the law, but she questioned why the city is holding a remote-only meeting if there are people who would like to attend in person.
"There's nothing that beats face-to-face communication," she said.
The new phase of the streetlight conversion likely will have the biggest effects on the city's east side and in midtown.
PNM owns and maintains 2,057 streetlights in the city — most of the them in those areas and some along Airport Road — and estimates it could convert about 1,100 of the lights with the project's current budget of $568,511, documents show.
The agreement with PNM was approved Monday by city councilors on the Public Works and Utilities Committee and is scheduled for a final vote before the full council Feb. 28. If it's approved, the conversion work could begin as early as July.
City documents say the target completion date is the end of the year, though the project could take up to a year.
