In order to establish a policy that is fair, consistent and economically practical, the Vassalboro Board of Selectmen will address the issue of installing new street lights to insure safe movement of vehicles and public safety in the following manner:
Petition or Individual Request: Any resident may bring forth a petition or letter by January 15th of each year and must include signatures from their neighborhood requesting one or more street lights. The Board of Selectmen will forward the petition to the Safety Committee for evaluation and a recommendation.
Action by the Safety Committee: The committee shall act on all requests for a street light(s) within one year from submission and always by February 28th. This will allow for appropriate time to include the request in the next fiscal year budget. The committee will use the following criteria when considering a request.
a. Are there a large number of vehicles using this road, especially during darkness?
b. Intersections
c. Dead end streets
d. Past occurrences of accidents at night
e. Past occurrences of crimes in immediate area
f. Is this a high pedestrian use area (i.e. walkers, joggers, etc.)?
g. Do sidewalks exist in area?
h. Number of people to benefit.
i. Number of residences to benefit
j. Number of businesses to benefit
Once the safety committee has evaluated all the requests based on criteria, they will make a recommendation on each request. They will place those that are recommended in an order of priority, assigning#1 priority to that request they feel deserves the most consideration, and so on down the line. Those that are not recommended will have a brief statement attached to them explaining the reason for denial.
Sizing: The Town Manager will consult with Central Maine Power and request them to survey the area to be lighted (all lights recommended by the safety committee) and make a recommendation as to the size of the light to be installed.
Costs: On those requests that receive a positive recommendation, the Town Manager will attach an estimated fiscal year cost based on current rate schedules.
Board of Selectmen: The Safety Committee will then submit their recommendations to the Board of Selectmen, the selectmen will then act upon each recommendations.
Effective May 23, 2007