$15 million replacement park lights will have similar design, city says

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Portland is in a rush to replace the 243 light poles in its public parks that were found to be structurally unsafe after at least one person was allegedly seriously injured by a falling pole in Irving Park in 2022.

On April 5, Portland City Council approved an emergency ordinance to assign the job to McKinstry Essention, LLC for an estimated $15 million.

Labeled as “energy savings performance contracting services,” the light pole replacement job was tacked onto an already existing, far-less costly $1.07 million contract with McKinstry Essention, LLC -- originally inked on Sept. 4, 2019 -- to reduce the city’s environmental footprint.

“On December 28, 2022, the Commissioner-in-Charge signed an emergency declaration for lighting removal and replacement work to take place under this contract since many of the impacted parks and pathway lighting impacted by a structural deficiency were already within scope of the ESPC work,” the city council agenda states.

Multiple Portland residents addressed the city council at Wednesday’s city council meeting to tell commissioners that they felt the city should have given more time for community input on the replacement of the city’s historic, 100-plus-year-old light posts, including what to do with the antique posts and what the replacement designs will look like. However, in wake of the 2022 Irving Park incident, which allegedly involved a light pole collapsing onto a young boy and his nanny after a hammock was tied to it, KATU initially reported, the city council voted to move forward with the project.

Despite the outcry from local citizens, Portland Parks and Recreation spokesperson Mark Ross told KOIN 6 that the replacement posts, which are expected to be completed but not installed within six months, will have a similar design. The design for the lamp fixtures, however, remains undecided.

“The poles have been selected and look almost identical to the current ones which has been the consistent input shared by the community with the bureau for many years,” Ross said. “While the light fixtures have not been selected yet, PPR is in the process of identifying fixtures that most closely match the original ones, are able to be easily maintained, which meet wildlife-friendly criteria and [recommended] have a color-correlated temperature.”

Although the complete project is expected to cost Portland taxpayers $18.5 million. The project is expected to save Portland Parks and Recreation an estimated $79,000 per year by reducing its utility consumption by 15%. Ross said that these savings will be put toward the bureau’s immense $600 million backlog of deferred maintenance projects.

“The bureau anticipates that one in five park assets will fail within the next 15 years without new resources,” Ross said. “The savings from this effort can be used to address a multitude of maintenance needs that make up the bureau’s $600 million major maintenance gap articulated in the Sustainable Future project.”

As for the removed antique light posts, Ross said that interested residents may be able to purchase their parts at the Rebuilding Center located at 3625 Mississippi Ave. in North Portland.

“The city’s contractor is responsible for disposing of the poles and fixtures,” he said. “In order to reduce waste, their sub-contractor intends to donate any viable removed parts to the Rebuilding Center. The remaining parts must be thrown out.”