The Village of Great Neck reached roughly a halfway point in the installation of LED street lights, officials announced at a board meeting on Tuesday night.
Joe Gill, the village clerk-treasurer, said that so far Ankers Electric has installed approximately 400 lights out of the more than 800 streetlights in the village and will likely have many more done by the end of this week.
“We’ve got 400 out of about 830 lights that are up already – lots of progress.” Gill said. “We’re hoping that the weather cooperates.”
Most of the completed installations have taken place along “major roads” like Arrandale Avenue, Steamboat Road, Middle Neck Road, Hicks Lane and Baker Hill Road, according to a map created by RealTerm Energy, which is managing the LED lighting project.
Gill said that workers are in the second week of LED light installation and that they should be mostly completed by Friday of next week. After that, they will make necessary adjustments.
Village officials recommended that residents call or email Village Hall if light is coming into their homes because the lighting angles can be tweaked.
In the past, trustees have framed the LED lighting project as offering savings and more safety.
They said that the approximately $600,000 project, to be paid for by money in the Community Benefit Fund and partly reimbursed by a $250,000 grant secured by then state Sen. Jack Martins, will pay for itself through energy savings and averted accidents.
“It’s not going to be passed down to the taxpayers,” Great Neck Village Mayor Pedram Bral said of the costs. “Just the savings.”
Bral also reiterated that the village’s smart city system will not have microphones, cameras or any surveillance capabilities, and that it is simply being used to help adjust the LED lights as needed.
Some residents have raised concerns about possible health hazards from LED lights over the past two years, as well as the manner the village has gone about the project.
Three residents at the meeting said they were encouraged to hear about the progress of the lights, including Great Neck resident Norman Gersman, who recalled a time when he nearly hit someone wearing all black that he could not see.
He said that he missed the person by inches, that he was “so shook up” that he needed to pull over, and that he then thought that with the LED lights, this incident would not have happened.
“They really make a difference, because with the LED lights, I would’ve never had a problem,” Gersman said.
In unrelated business, village officials approved a revised site plan for Everfresh on 533 Middle Neck Road and modified a permit to allow a portion of the Shaare Torah Congregation to be used for residential purposes.
