LED Lights Cause Problems

Some residents of the far North End of Palm Beach Island have been urging the town to turn off their street lights at night, as first reported by the Palm Beach Daily News.

New LED street lights were installed six weeks ago, and are much brighter than the halogen lights in place before. Homeowners also say that the lights are mounted on 18.5-foot decorative poles, which is 5 feet shorter than standard poles, causing the light to shine directly into residents’ bedrooms. 

At residents’ requests the town has so far turned of four of the sixteen recently installed lights until it can find a softer lighting that will not disturb the neighborhood.

“Thanks for turning off the light that was shining into our bedroom,” Annette Dowell, who lives on East Inlet Drive, told town officials at Thursday’s Public Works Committee meeting.” Dowell said the LED lighting is too bright for her street, and that the shorter poles have made matters worse.

LED Lights Cause Problems

“This is not a high crime or traffic area,” she said. “It’s over-illuminated. It looks like a K-Mart parking lot. We are all concerned about it.”

The street lights, owed by Florida Power and Light, are on North Lake Way, North Ocean Boulevard and some residential cross streets. 

The town must replace a total of 21 street poles between Onodaga Avenue and the INler because all the utility poles in the neighborhood are coming down at the end of the Phase 1 North undergrounding project, according to Town Engineer Patricia Strayer. The old poles are expected to be removed in mid-April or May.

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The town has been working with FPL to find dimmer, amber-like lighting that residents are used to, but the process has been slow. LED lights are standard because they are brighter and use less energy. 

FPL spokesman Bill Orlove said: “We met with the town Friday, and there are some issues regarding the street lights and we are working with the town to resolve them.”