SNOW HILL – Streetlights will be installed throughout a notoriously dark area of West Ocean City in the coming weeks.
On Tuesday the Worcester County Commissioners unanimously approved an agreement with Delmarva Power for the installation of 20 LED lights along Keyser Point Road, Center Drive and Golf Course Road. Officials hope to see the lights in place by Memorial Day.
“I think it’s imperative that we do this,” Commissioner Joe Mitrecic said. “A lot of foreign workers from Ocean City live in that area and they have a false sense of safety out there. This would help the situation.”
According to Worcester County Public Works Director John Tustin, when Delmarva Power received approval from the Maryland Public Service Commission for a recent rate adjustment, the company also received approval to offer LED lighting. The company agreed to install 20 new energy efficient LED 150-watt light fixtures along Center Drive and Keyser Point and Golf Course roads.
“This would certainly help the area,” Tustin said.
The construction cost to the county will be $2,752.94 while the added annual cost of the new lights will total slightly more than $3,000.
Tustin said he inquired about retrofitting the county’s existing streetlights with LED bulbs but was advised that Delmarva Power was only able to replace 5 percent of a customer’s lights each year.
“This would be a good first step,” he said of the West Ocean City project.
Mitrecic quickly made the motion to approve the agreement for 20 new lights.
“They’re bad roads with a couple bad turns in them that can be dangerous,” he said.
Commissioner Bud Church praised Delmarva Power officials for their efforts in getting the necessary state approvals to offer LED lights.
“It’s not always easy to get things done,” he said. “They went out of their way to try to accommodate this request. If everything we did was as easy as working with Delmarva Power and Light it’d be a pretty easy job for all of us. I just want to thank them publicly for doing what they’ve done. It’s an enormous safety factor.”
