The Newton Public Facilities Committee agreed to finance the continued installation of LED lighting at Newton South High School at its meeting Thursday night.
“It’s a better quality of light, it improves the lighting,” Newton Energy Project Manager Bill Ferguson said. “And from a maintenance point of view, these lights last a long time.”
According to Ferguson, the project has already been 90 percent completed. He said further funding would allow for the implementation of LED lighting throughout the entire school, and would save the school about $17,000 a year, due to LED lights’ lower maintenance costs.
The committee approved the allocation of $105,253 toward the project from the city’s Energy Stabilization Fund. Ferguson said the $311,000 in the fund has not been promised to anything else.
“At this point, we have a lot of projects that we’re considering that we could tap into some of those funds for, but right now, this [project] is the priority,” Ferguson said.
The committee also discussed and approved the use of $215,000 from the TRIO mitigation funds for the purchase and installation of new traffic signals at the intersection of Lowell Avenue and Washington Street.
“And the main advantage here is this will enable a dedicated westbound, … [and] a dedicated left turn phase, which currently does not exist, and that’s where the majority of the accidents occur,” Newton Commissioner of Public Works Jim McGonagle said. “And also, this will improve vehicle detection coming from all directions.”
The committee also discussed the possibility of adding a bike signal to the intersection at a later date, following this project.
“I really hope we do follow up on that, because the intent of the Washington Street project is to encourage safe bicycling and getting more people, especially children or students going to Newton North, and I just want to make sure that we’re ensuring their safety, as well as the safety of our drivers,” Ward 1 Councilor-at-Large Alison Leary said.
The Public Facilities Committee also agreed to authorize the borrowing of a $4,403,000 loan from a Massachusetts Water Resources Authority funding program for sewer projects, which would go toward the city’s Sewer Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) Project 10.
The Sewer CIP Project 10 includes improvements to the sewer main in Newton Highlands, Newton Corner, Newton Centre, and Waban, according to McGonagle. This loan is interest-free and will be paid back in installments over 10 years.
“I just wanted to say, I’m really happy with the commissioner that we’re taking advantage of those no-interest loans,” Leary said. “You’re doing a wonderful job working on the upkeep of our underground infrastructure.”
