Water and Light board wants project tabled

The board that oversees Columbia’s municipal utilities is urging caution on a proposal to install new streetlights downtown.

The Columbia Water and Light Advisory Board met Thursday to discuss topics including a project which would install new lights in downtown Columbia in a bid to improve safety.

The board moved to ask city council to table the project because it felt a pilot program to study the lights’ effectiveness did not provide research to show they would make the area safer for citizens and police officers.

The project would install 100 new lights that could be programmed to reach full brightness around the time bars downtown close and dim during other times of the day and night.

Board members said many of the lights downtown are mismatched because they have been replaced with what the city had as they stopped working. Some poles are also peeling, but the department said it would be cheaper to replace them than to repaint them.

The budget for the project is $400,000, with around $130,000 spent so far.

The pilot program installed six of the new lights in the downtown area. Some members at the meeting said it proved the technology would work, but many were concerned about the lack of research.

Board members said they want the Columbia Police Department and the Downtown Community Improvement District to produce updated maps about the number of crimes in the area where the new lights were installed.

Scott Fines, chairman of the Water and Light Advisory Board, supported the motion to table the project. He said the pilot project should have provided evidence it had some effect on crime, public safety and injuries.

“Part of the problem is that these lights, the pilot project lights were installed in December. It is now April, and so there’s not really data, or at least that data has not been presented,” he said.

Fines said he does not know if the pilot project has been a long enough to collect data on the effects of the lights.

“We suggest city council merely wait until that data can be obtained from the pilot project, at which point, you know, they should consider the project,” he said.

Fines said he believes the lights will help prevent crime and injuries.

Second Ward Councilman Mike Trapp said it is not an unreasonable request for the council to wait in order to get more data from the pilot project, but said the council can only table a project until a certain date, which was not established in the meeting.

An officer from CPD who attended the meeting said officers like the lights because they increase safety for pedestrians being picked up and dropped off downtown. The lights also make it easier for officers to see into large crowds or when people aren’t using crosswalks.

Others have concerns about whether the lights will cause people to congregate in darker areas, such as closer to the University of Missouri campus.

The city council is scheduled to hear from the public about the project on April 15.

Trapp said he does not know for sure if the council will still hear comments from the public on the project, or if it will wait until more research is provided.

Water and Light provided a survey both online and in paper for everyone in the city of Columbia, but only 27 people responded.