Commissioners review five-year residential street-lighting plan; precinct equity and park lighting raised
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Summary
County staff proposed a five-year street-lighting capital plan that would install roughly 100 lights per year using road-and-bridge special revenue; commissioners pressed staff on equity across precincts, feasibility with El Paso Electric and whether special-revenue funds can pay for park or trail lighting.
El Paso County staff presented a proposed five-year residential street-lighting capital improvement plan on Thursday that would expand LED lighting in unincorporated neighborhoods, add lighting around mailbox clusters and target gaps near parks and intersections.
Public works and planning staff reported successes from an earlier five-year plan — about 300 new street lights and a transition to LED fixtures — and described challenges including equipment lead times, El Paso Electric scheduling constraints and safety limits on how far the utility will extend power lines (the presentation noted a 160-foot practical service-distance limit). Projected unit installation costs had risen to roughly $1,700 per streetlight (staff included a 5% annual escalation in their plan), and annual operating cost per LED light was estimated at about $10.56.
The new plan proposes 100 installations per year during fiscal years 2026–2030 using the Road & Bridge special revenue account. Staff also recommended adding lighting at certain county parks and along mailbox clusters in the unincorporated county, and they proposed prioritizing intersections and gaps in residential coverage. Staff said they calculated areas of need by mapping 300-foot coverage buffers and mail-cluster locations countywide.
Commissioners focused on equity of distribution across precincts and operations questions. Several commissioners noted that past plans left some precincts with few new lights; one commissioner asked for a precinct-by-precinct accounting of where VRF and prior street-light funds had been spent. There were repeated requests to verify whether road-and-bridge special revenue can be used for lighting within parks or on trails and whether a streetlight fund can be used inside municipal limits or on private easements; county legal and audit staff said they would confirm allowable uses. Commissioners also asked staff to explore solar lighting for remote/unelectrified locations and whether outsourcing installation could speed delivery when El Paso Electric’s crews are unavailable.
Staff requested authority to use the special revenue fund and to carry forward unspent funds from the prior plan; they estimated the overall five-year cost under the proposal at about $956,244 and asked for authority to move forward with the FY26 program and to return with updated, precinct-balanced options.
Why it matters: Residential street lighting affects safety, accessibility and perceptions of public investment; commissioners pressed staff to balance technical limits, utility cooperation and equity across precincts before finalizing the five-year program.
