Residents press town to get Dominion Energy to fix prolonged South Church Street streetlight outages

Several residents used the public-comment period on Feb. 4 to urge the council and town staff to accelerate repairs to streetlights that have been out on South Church Street for months.

Brian Lally, a resident on South Church Street, described three adjacent outages, including one he said had been out for five months and another knocked down in a hit-and-run. "It's dark there. It's really dark there. It's dangerous," Lally said, citing a November incident when a bicyclist struck a parked car and fled.

Town staff confirmed they have logged repeated requests with Dominion Energy and that staff called the utility again the morning of the meeting. "We have called Dominion several times. Staff called again today," Michael Stallings, town staff, said, adding that the town will continue to press the company to respond.

Staff explained that some streetlights are town-owned and some are owned by Dominion; South Church Street lights are Dominion-owned. When ownership is unclear, staff said residents can call the town and staff will route the request to the appropriate party; sometimes a direct citizen call to Dominion can get a faster response.

Another resident, Bob Heinz, reported a separate safety concern where a utility-panel cover had been missing and town staff said they had it secured after contacting a Dominion contact.

Ending: Town staff said they will continue to escalate the outstanding streetlight repairs with Dominion and can add additional temporary signage or lighting if warranted by safety concerns.