Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Street Lighting topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
McAllen updates neighborhood street‑lighting plan, cites delayed utility responses
Summary
Traffic Operations staff told the McAllen City Commission their district‑by‑district street‑lighting project is largely in‑house but progress in some areas is stalled by slow responses from external utilities; staff said District 4 is complete and 75 lights have been installed citywide to date.
Marlin Garca, the city’s traffic operations director, told the McAllen City Commission at a workshop that the traffic department is continuing a multi‑district “street lights by district” program aimed at adding lights in existing neighborhoods (phase one) and upgrading high‑volume arterials (phase two). “This is an in‑house project,” Garca said, adding the department has installed about 75 street lights so far.
The project is organized by district. Garca said District 4 served as a pilot and shows 100% completion because the maps and submittals were ready early. “When we applied the new construction standards to that subdivision … we would need to add additional lights to bring it up to code,” he said, describing how staffs compare older subdivisions with current subdivision‑code requirements.
Council members pressed staff about delays tied to outside utilities. Garca said a large portion of work in Districts 1 and 2 falls under the jurisdiction of Magic Valley Electric and that staff has submitted designs but received limited response. “Their response time is a lot slower,” Garca said, noting Magic Valley has cited staffing issues. The city manager told commissioners he would contact the utility to press for action.
Design timelines vary by site depending on transformer availability; staff said design can take “a couple of weeks to a month.” For upgrades to major arterials, utilities may replace high‑pressure‑sodium bulbs with white fixtures, which staff said often proceeds faster than full new installs. Staff also described technical steps such as underground boring where new underground conduit is required and explained that some proposed lights are canceled when property owners object.
Staff described customer reporting and maintenance procedures: residents may report outages via 311, and traffic staff perform quarterly street‑light surveys (most recently in March, with additional surveys planned in June, September and December) to tag outages and send information to the responsible utility for repair.
Commissioners raised alley lighting and permitting questions. Staff said the city prioritizes public streets and that alleys are typically the responsibility of land owners, though some downtown permits require adequate rear exterior lighting for businesses. Commissioners suggested referring possible changes to ordinance review.
No formal action or vote occurred; staff said they will revise status wording on public materials (for example changing “pending design” to simply “pending” where external utilities must complete work) and follow up with Magic Valley Electric and other partners.
