Arnold residents who live in subdivisions that do not have streetlights now have an avenue to get some funding for lights to be installed along their streets.
City Administrator Bryan Richison said subdivisions with an active Homeowners Association (HOA) may begin applying in January for money to have lights installed, and city officials will start reviewing those applications after March 31.
The streetlight funding program is available because the city received a $300,000 grant from the state of Missouri as part of a Crime Prevention Pilot Program included in the state budget.
State Rep. Phil Amato, who represents District 113 that includes Arnold, secured the money for the pilot program in this year’s state budget.
“I’m very excited about it,” he said. “I went down to Jefferson City to try to make a difference. Getting leadership in the House to approve this pilot program and drop $300,000 in for a freshman legislator, I know is unusual. Now, we just have to see if the people want (the streetlights).”
The Missouri Department of Public Safety will oversee the funds for the program, and the city expects to receive the $300,000 soon, Richison told Arnold City Council members on Dec. 12.
He said the state has not set a deadline for Arnold to use all the program’s funds, adding that the city will be required to send receipts to the state to show how the money is spent for the streetlight program.
“We do not have to rush and can take our time to work with the subdivisions that are interested,” Richison said.
In order to apply for the money, a subdivision’s HOA board members will need to send a signed letter asking for the funding, along with a copy of a form outlining the streetlight application process, to the city administrator. The letter and application may be turned into the City Clerk’s Office at City Hall, 2101 Jeffco Blvd., between 8 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. on Mondays through Fridays.
The HOA also will need to show proof that it has the authority to collect monthly fees to pay Ameren to power the lights.
According to the program’s application, Ameren will charge subdivisions approximately $23 per light per month. Ameren also requires subdivisions to commit to paying the monthly bill for 10 years.
The city also will require residents to donate any needed easements or rights-of-way for the lights to be installed.
The application says, “If property owners refuse to donate any needed easements or right-of-way, the city will try to work around them, but such refusals could make the installation of streetlights in a subdivision not feasible.”
The cost to install the lights will be covered with the funds from the state’s grant.
Richison said the city does not have an estimated cost for installation, and he does not know how many streetlights will be funded through the grant.
“We will keep accepting applications until we have used all the grant money,” he said.
Richison said he did not know how long it would take to install streetlights after a subdivision gets approval to receive grant funds.
“We will need to coordinate schedules with Ameren and the contractor we hire to install the conduit,” he said.
In 1992, the city adopted an ordinance requiring developers to install streetlights in all new subdivisions, so the program is designed to help older subdivisions that were built before those requirements were in place, Amato said.
“The older subdivisions, if they don’t want streetlights, I am not going to force them on them,” he said. “I am just trying to give them a way to be like the other half of the city that has streetlights.”
Amato and Richison said streetlights help reduce crime and traffic accidents.
“I feel in my heart that the more light you have in a community, the less crime you have in the neighborhood,” Amato said. “I think criminals don’t like to do their stuff out in the open. They like to do it in the darkness of night.
“I want to get some statistical information on what the crime rate was before the lights went up and what the crime rate is after the lights go up.”
Amato said he is aware of at least one subdivision in Arnold that will apply for the streetlight funding.
“I had a meeting with Bayshore (a subdivision off Telegraph Road in the southeast corner of Arnold), which to my knowledge is the largest subdivision built in the city, and they do not have streetlights,” he said. “I think there is like 319 homes in the subdivision. They had a meeting, and I addressed them, and (Ward 2 City Councilman Bill Moritz) talked to them. It looks like they are going to proceed and tap into some of that money from the state.”