The Uptown Business Owners Association is planning to add lights to court street buildings before the holidays.
After about a year of planning, Uptown business owners are looking forward to their ultimate present this holiday season: New street lighting.
Members of the Athens Uptown Business Owners Association hope to install new LED perimeter lighting along the city’s main thoroughfare. The new lights will replace the over 20-year-old set of lights currently lining the street, which many say are worn down with age.
“It will be aesthetically pleasing,” said John Wharton, President of the Uptown Business Owners Association. “We’re fortunate that we have a dynamic (Uptown) atmosphere. ... We’re very blessed that we have the university to generate economic viability to our town.”
Those lights will be used primarily during the holiday season, but can also be turned on during other Uptown festivities like the Athens International Street Fair, according to Deputy Service Safety Director Ron Lucas.
The new lights will be more energy and cost efficient than the old lights. Another important change is that the lights will undergo a bi-annual maintenance check in order to insure that they don’t fall apart the way the last set of lights did.
The project will cost about $50,000 — but the city won’t be footing the bill. Ohio University will contribute $20,000, alongside almost $29,000 from the Uptown Business Owners Association.
Each of the Uptown businesses were also asked to provide $12.20 for each linear foot of lighting that would be installed on their buildings, and the energy costs of the fixtures will be paid by each of the individual businesses.
The project will exclude Dale’s BP and Court Street Diner because there was no way to install lighting to those buildings in an attractive way, Wharton said.
Officials from the city have also volunteered to provide an extra $5 thousand to the project if the cost exceeds what is already estimated. They will allocate the money from the city’s enhancement fund, according to Athens City Councilwoman Chris Knisely, D-at large.
“As of now, the university and the business owners association have collected what we think will cover the bill,” she said.
Lucas said that once the proposal for the project passes city council and a contractor is agreed upon, the project will take 18 to 20 business days to complete.
Although there is no specific plan for extending the project to other streets in coming years, Lucas said it was an option.
“If the business owners would like to do that, we can entertain that possibility with the same plan we have,” he said.
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