Milton council rejects contract for Granary solar streetlights

Milton Town Council, by a 5-2 vote, rejected a proposed service contract that spelled out terms for installing solar streetlights on the first four phases of the Granary at Draper Farm development.

Council has been debating whether to move forward with the solar streetlight plan for months, and members had many additional questions about the contract at their April 7 meeting.

In voting no, Councilman Fred Harvey said, “I don’t see where our agreement has been met completely, and there’s still some holes in it.”

Councilman Tom Arkinson said, “I appreciate the fact that they did address some of our concerns, but this is still more costly than the [Delaware Electric] Co-op is offering. I don’t think this is the best use of the town’s money.”

Councilman Robert Gray and Councilman Scotty Edler both voted no due to concerns that replacing the poles after the service contract expires would be too expensive for the town. 

“I do not see the economic benefit to the town in accepting this,” Gray said. “I recognize that solar power may be the wave of the future, but I don’t see how we can commit the taxpayers’ revenue for this kind of risk.”

Edler said once those poles are dedicated to the town, if something should happen where the town has to replace a bunch of them, it would bear the cost. However, if the poles were run by DEC or Delmarva Power, the companies would bear the brunt of replacing them. He added that once the contract expires, town maintenance staff would be responsible for the lights in just one part of town, while in other parts of town, third parties would be responsible. Edler added that the lights will be 15 years old by the time the whole Granary development comes online. 

“It’s going to cost a lot more than in a traditional build,” he said. 

The only votes in favor of the contract were Councilwoman Randi Meredith and Mayor John Collier. Meredith made the motion to approve the contract, and at first it seemed likely to die due to a lack of a second, until Collier yielded the gavel to Vice Mayor Lee Revis-Plank and seconded the motion himself. That meant he would not serve as the final vote on the matter. 

“I think solar lighting is important for the future; I think it is going in that direction. I know this is a large project, and it is very intimidating. But I have been to other places in the world that have solar lighting, and it does not seem scary to me,” Meredith said. 

Under the contract, the town would pay $23 per pole – reduced from $25 per pole – to be provided by Houston, Texas-based company EnGoPlanet, which has done similar projects in Texas and in Europe. EnGoPlanet would be responsible for maintenance of the poles during the term of the service contract. The contract would last 15 years, with an option to renew for another 15. 

Representatives from EnGoPlanet have said the poles are 20 feet tall, made of high-strength structural steel and galvanized with an industrial finish to prevent corrosion. The poles would be secured to a concrete footing. Each pole has a slim light, which includes motion detection, and can dim and brighten depending on how close objects are. There are six solar panels integrated into each pole. 

The poles were slated to go into the first four phases of the planned 10-phase Granary development; there would be about 170 poles. The Granary has broken ground and is conducting site work on Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the development. Developer Convergence Investments placed a sample pole and light on the property to show people what one would look like.