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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-04-2001 City Council Agenda PacketSARATOGA CITY COUNCIL MEETING DATE: October 4, 2001 AGENDA ITEM: ORIGINATING DEPT.: City Manager's Office CITY MANAGER: PREPARED BY: Danielle Surdin, Econ. Dev. Coord. DEPT. HEAD: SUBJECT: Approval of Village Decorative Lighting Guidelines & Funding RECOMMENDED ACTION (S) 1. Move to approve guidelines for Village lighting 2. Move to authorize City Manager to contract with KC Enterprises for the purchase and installation of decorative lighting REPORT SUMMXRY: Background In 1994 Village merchants decided to improve the downtown area by purchasing pole- mounted holiday wreaths for the downtown light poles and commercial grade decorative lighting for the Village street trees. Ms. Donna Collins, a local Village merchant, purchased, installed, and maintained these lights and wreaths as needed. Ms. Collins has done this through merchant donations and personal finances. In the fiscal year of 2001- 2002, the Saratoga Chamber of Commerce awarded $7,000 dollars to Ms. Collins to cover the cost of existing lighting and pole-mounted wreaths during the holiday season. The City of Saratoga has supported merchant efforts to improve the downtown by covering electricity costs for the decorative lighting, and assisted Ms. Collins during the holiday season by installing the wreaths on the downtown light poles. To date, the City of Saratoga has no official decorative lighting guidelines for the Village, and local merchants have funded the lights and wreaths that currently exist. Current Village street tree lighting consists of non-energy efficient decorative lighting placed intermittently throughout the trees along Big Basin Way. The lights installed on the Village street trees are in the lower branches of trees in the C-1 zone and consist of large commercial grade C-9 bulbs that use 5-watts of energy per bulb. These bulbs are not energy efficient and cannot be utilized to light the entire downtown if the City were to fully light each tree, due to the size of existing electrical circuits serving the area. Village Lighting Guidelines Energy Issues Update In March 2001, Governor Gray Davis issued an Executive Order Implementation Plan D- 19-01 to discourage the use of decorative lighting in the business/retail districts. Though there is no particular statute on decorative lighting, many. California cities discontinued the use of decorative lighting during spring and summer. The energy crisis has eased somewhat since mid-summer. Any decorative lighting program would be limited or curtailed in case of a stage 2 or 3 energy emergency. A survey of nearby cities reveals that all of them will be using decorative lighting to enhance the shopping atmosphere in their downtown commercial areas this holiday season: Town of Los Gatos c) Decorative lighting will be used in their downtown commercial district with a kick-off Tree Lighting Ceremony December ]st and last to mid-January 2002 City of Campbell o Decorative lighting will be used in their downtown commercial district in November from the day after Thanksgiving lasting until the beginning of January 2002 City of Palo Alto o Decorative lighting will be used in their downtown commercial district in November and will last until the beginning of January 2002 City of Los Altos o Decorative lighting will be used in their downtown commercial district in November and will last until the beginning of danuary 2002 Revised Seasonal Guidelines The updated Village Lighting Guidelines reflect seasonal usage with limited hours of operation. They are as follows: Seasonal lighting will commence the day after Thanksgiving to correspond with the Village merchant open house event. · Seasonal lighting will start nightly from 5:00 p.m.-11 p.m., Monday thru Sunday. · The Seasonal lighting program will end after the first full week in January. · Lights will be installed once, through a vendor contractor and will remain in trees year-round. City staffwill contract for ongoing maintenance of the lights. Village Lighting Guidelines FISCAL IMPACTS Several vendors in the northem Califomia area were contacted for bids but the City received only two. Both vendors specified that if this project were to be installed in time for this holiday season, purchasing of the product would need to take place before October 5, 2001. There are a total of ninety-eight (98) '~illage trees located along Big Basin Way. From the bids received, lighting prices ranged from $12.50 per strand to $10.50 per strand. The lowest cost vendor was KC Enterprises with a total cost of $21,500 other vendors were $24,860, and $25,760. The lighting standard chosen below is the type recommended by the surrounding cities of Mountain View, Palo Alto, and Los Altos. For bidding purposes the trees have been divided into three categories small, medium, and large, with an installation fee included, as city staff is unable to provide installation services. The following is a breakdown on the cost: KC Enterprises # Of Light Cost per Cost Per Tree Total Strands Strand 35 Small 6 sets $10.50 $65.00 x 35 (t) $2275.00 58 Medium 12 sets $10.50 $126.00 x 58 (t) $7308.00 5 Large 24 sets $10.50 $252.00 x 5 (t) $1260.00 73 Extension $6.50 each $474.50 Cords Subtotal $11,317.50 Sales Tax $933.70 $12251.12 Less 10% 1225.11 Discount Lighting Subtotal $11026.01 Installation Cost: $8575.00 For (98) Village Trees: (87. 50 per tree) Shipping Cost $500.00 Overall Project $21,500 Cost FISCAL IMPACTS (CONTINUED) Annual Costs/Additional Costs Annual and additional costs will consist of nominal ongoing maintenance fees ($10.50 per strand for replacement and staff time for the installation of the new strand) and electricity cost. The City of Saratoga has provided the electricity for the downtown lights in the past out of the Landscape and Lighting District Fund/Village Lighting District, past accounts show a yearly charge of approximately $3,600. It should be noted, that the installation of the new "Mini-Lights", will lower electricity cost below that currently incurred by the City. The basis for this conclusion is that the current lights will be Village Lighting Guidelines replaced with energy efficient low wattage lights that will be utilized for 1-½ months per year. Funding for purchase of lights and installation will be through the Economic Development Program's Contract Services Account. This account has sufficient funds to cover the cost of this project. CONSEQUENCES OF NOT ACTING Delays the implementation of Village decorative lighting, and vendors will not be able to install lights for this holiday season. ALTERNATIVES 1. Postpone the purchase of lights until the energy crisis is over. 2. Create different lighting patterns to utilize fewer trees, thus decreasing the overall cost assumed by the City i.e., light every other tree or intersections only. FOLLOW-UP ACTIONS 1. Contract (vith the vendor KC October 2001. Enterprises to install lights during the month of mid 2. Update the Saratoga Business Development Council (SBDC) and Heritage Preservation Commission on the approved Village lighting guidelines. 3. 'Collaborate with the Village merchants to initiate a Tree Lighting Ceremony in conjunction with the Village Merchant's Open House holiday season kick-off. ADVERTISING, NOTICING, AND PUBLIC CONTACT: Nothing Additional. ATTACHMENTS: None.