The city may be able to piggyback on to a BC Hydro project to get lights along Tyner Boulevard sooner than it hoped.
On Monday night, city council will be asked to approve leasing new hydro poles being installed along Tyner for street lighting.
The utility is replacing the existing concrete poles with wooden ones, introducing an opportunity for installing streetlights that could be leased to the city.
In October, council was briefed on plans to improve Tyner Boulevard, which included street lights, bus pullouts and traffic calming.
A $75,000 capital project was identified for next year to design Tyner lighting.
But if the city goes ahead with the lease option, it would have the chance to get 33 interim lights along the currently dark thoroughfare, but on the opposite side of the street from the trail.
Going the BC Hydro route would have an immediate capital cost estimated at $55,138, plus GST. Operating the lights would be an additional $9,021 per year. These lights would be substantially more expensive than the cost for BC Hydro to energize city-owned lights - $22.78 per light, per month versus $6.77 per light, per month.
If council approves of the plan, the street light design work would be removed from next year's capital plan, which is set for approval on Wednesday night.
