They won't be up to normal city standards but the city is moving ahead with getting temporary illumination on Tyner Boulevard.
During Monday night's meeting, city council approved a plan to tag on to a BC Hydro pole replacement project and rent street lights on the new infrastructure.
The utility is replacing the existing concrete poles with wooden ones, introducing an opportunity for installing streetlights that could be leased to the city.
It's an interim solution, said engineering and public works general manager Dave Dyer, but it does get some lighting where there is currently none along a dark street and trail.
There won't be permanent street lights in place until Tyner Boulevard is turned into a four-lane thoroughfare.
"This is an interim solution that will last a few years and we would probably defer a permanent project for a few more years than what we show in the capital plan today," said Dyer.
A $75,000 capital project was identified for next year to start designing permanent Tyner lighting.
But since the city is going with the lease option, it will get 33 interim lights along the road, but on the opposite side of the street from the trail.
A similar set up is also in place along Foothills Boulevard between First and 15th Avenues, said Dyer, where there are median lights on wooden poles.
"There's definitely lots of community requests for the lighting there and it certainly will improve the situation. But as I said, not to the standards that we would normally design to because the trail is a little bit farther over. You'll be able to see but it won't be as clear as it would if it was to the standard we would normally design to," Dyer said.
Going the BC Hydro route would have an immediate capital cost estimated at $55,138, plus GST.
Operating the lights would cost 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.
Dyer said staff are asking BC Hydro about power rates for LED lights.
Discussions with BC Hydro about a timeline for the installation won't take place until council approves the project as part of its 2016 capital plan, which is scheduled for Wednesday night.
