Lighting system to be upgraded to LED

Local Historic City News reporters watched and listened as Chief Operations Officer John Regan outlined a new lighting system upgrade at last night’s St. Augustine city commission meeting.

“Lighting installed five years ago in the Historic Downtown Parking Facility at the Visitor Information Center has reached the end of its lifespan,” Regan said.

Based on information collected by city staff, replacing the current high-pressure sodium lighting at the parking garage with more efficient LED fixtures could save the city as much as $85,000 each year on its electric bill.

Although there is an estimated $250,000 cost to replace the fixtures, the commission approved, on a 5-0 vote, that General Fund surplus be used to pay for LED lighting as the high-pressure sodium fixtures are replaced.

According to Regan, the city is hoping to get the EPA to consider this energy conscious improvement as an “in-kind project” for the purpose of retiring the $33,000 fine incurred following a state investigation that found the City of St. Augustine took waste from the old city dump at the end of Riberia Street and illegally moved it a few miles away to a borrow pit on Holmes Boulevard.