Ventnor has replaced all of its streetlights with LED bulbs.
By NANETTE LoBIONDO GALLOWAY
MARGATE – The city will soon be a bit brighter. The city set money aside in 2021 to pay for the initial phase of switching over to more energy efficient street lighting. Now, it’s about to happen.
According to Administrator Ken Mosca, Atlantic City Electric, or a subcontractor of its choice, will be replacing some of the high-pressure sodium lights on electric company-owned fixtures with light-emitting diodes, which cast a better light.
Some say the lights are just right, yet others say they are too bright.
“It depends on who you talk to, but it’s a nice light,” Mosca said. “If you want to know what it will be like, just look at Ventnor. They switched over a few years ago.”
According to the resolution authorizing an agreement with the utility company, “the City of Margate wishes to reduce fossil fuel emission in a manner that is environmentally sustainable, maximizes cost savings, reduces total energy use and improves energy efficiency.”
“It’s an easy process, just using a bucket truck to remove the HPS fixture and replacing it with an LED fixture,” he said.
Phase I installation will be confined to the area between Fredericksburg and Huntington avenues, north of Ventnor Avenue to prevent any disruption of traffic along Ventnor and Atlantic avenues during the busy summer season.
“The work can be done in summer, but we want to keep it away from the busier part of town,” he said.
Atlantic City Electric will map out the area and develop a schedule for installation according to their staffing ability, but the city doesn’t want to wait till fall because the benefits of the switch over are too great, said Mosca, who recently retired as municipal liaison of the utility company.
“We don’t have the exact schedule yet, but it will start soon,” he said.
The city bonded $350,000 in 2021 to pay for Phase 1 of the multi-year project.
Phase I includes replacing 352 of the city’s estimated 1,000 street lights, and the savings on electric will be substantial.
“It will reduce the cost of energy as much as 45%,” Mosca said.
In other business April 20, the city introduced a new ordinance that scraps the existing Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance and replaces it with an entirely new ordinance recommended by the NJ Department of Environmental Protection.
According to Construction Code Official/Building Inspector Jim Galantino, who also serves as the city’s floodplain administrator, the new ordinance will keep the city in the higher echelon of municipalities that participate in the Community Rating System, which provides property owners will substantial discounts on the cost of flood insurance.
“We are diligent in adopting revisions the DEP recommends. We want to stay current and abide by strict standards, which helps with our CRS rating. This new ordinance will help us going forward,” he said.
The ordinance, which the DEP recommends all municipalities adopt before it becomes statewide law in 2026, will relieve property owners of having to use pressure treated lumber to construct anything below freeboard and require them to install all mechanical systems above the finished first floor. The ordinance will also adopt new FEMA flood maps and designate the construction code official to serve as floodplain administrator.
“Sandy changed everything,” Galantino said.
A public hearing on the ordinance is scheduled for 4 p.m. Thursday, May 4.
Ordinance 07-2023 Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance
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