John Mack - Newtown Supervisor
LED Street Light Feasibility Study Approved

At the November 10, 2021, Board of Supervisors (BOS) meeting, Township Engineer Leanna Colubriale of RVE put forward a proposal to authorize the approval of the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) Regional Streetlight Procurement Letter of Intent. View this short video clip from the meeting:

Prior to the meeting Ms. Colubriale summarized the program for BOS members:

There are four general phases of the Regional Streetlight Procurement Program (RSLPP), with Phase 1 being the completion of a Feasibility Study. This is prepared by Keystone Lighting Solutions (KLS) through DVRPC at no cost to the Township.

After the feasibility study is completed and reviewed between the Township and KLS, the Township makes the decision to enter into the program. Decisions typically are made in December.

If the Township decides to move forward, Phase 2 consists of Design and Auditing, which typically will occur in January through March 2022. KLS will then perform the field audit of the existing lights and develop the database. KLS then prepares the report on the design and cost options.

At the end of Phase 2, the Township will decide if they want to contract with Armor Electric through DVRPC to complete the work. There is typically a 20% reduction on costs through this program than if the municipality did it on their own.

The next phases are the PECO rebates, which KLS is responsible for, and then construction. They are generally looking at a construction timeline of summer 2022.

Update (8 December 2021): Kickoff Meeting:On November 22, 2021, Township Engineer Leanna Colubriale met with Michael Fuller of Keystone Lighting Solutions (KLS) regarding the Township’s Letter of Intent for the Phase 3 of the DVRPC Regional Streetlight Program.

Here's what she communicated to the supervisors at the December 8, 2021, BOS public meeting:

Michael summarized the program, what information they need from us, as well as what is needed for the Township to move forward.

The Feasibility Study is Phase 1, which includes KLS reviewing different Township provided data and producing a report that details future construction costs and returns on investment. The Township has already provided KLS with the PECO information necessary for the feasibility study. Michael discussed the costs associated with Phase 2 – Design/Engineering, and approximated KLS design fees to be $31,000.00. The Township would be responsible for that cost if it is decided to move beyond the Feasibility Study Phase. With it being the end of the year, the Township is well within its budget process for 2022 and this line item is not included. This also does not include any future construction costs.

That said, Michael indicated DVRPC is still debating as to whether a Fourth Round of this program will be occurring in 2022-2023. He will discuss with DVRPC if the Township could have an extended Phase 3, or be included in a possible future Phase 4. This would allow the Township to budget for the future costs for design and construction and possibly have construction planned for 2023 as opposed to Summer 2022 under the current phase. Michael is going to get back to us with that information as well as if DVRPC will still pay for the Township’s feasibility study if the Township decides to enter a different phase of funding.

We will wait on that information from KLS, which we will hopefully receive this week. This will give the Township the necessary information as to whether to move forward in this phase or in future phases.

Regarding construction costs, I’ve summarized costs below (see below) for some other municipalities who have a similar number of fixtures that participated in prior phases of this program. Newtown is most similar to Warrington Township in terms our preliminary estimates of the number of fixtures.

On December 7, 2021, I spoke with with Michael Fuller of Keystone Lighting Solutions and Elizabeth Compitello, RSLPP Project Mag for DVRPC. The upshot is that the timing was bad because the 2022 Phase 3 is already well along and we do not have time to adequately plan for this in 2022. They believe our project is big enough for them to do a Phase 4 in 2023. We would be the "anchor" township that can bring other townships into the program especially if we connect up with then through their EACs. Then we would be able to get a feasibility study EARLY in 2022 BEFORE the 2023 budget is even discussed. This will give us an estimate of the project costs, which we can use to figure out how to cover those costs in the 2023 budget should we decide to go forward (anyway that is how I understood what they suggested). We also discussed various options such as getting a loan via the Delaware Regional Valley Finance Authority and the fact that PECO rebates have gone UP.