Charlottetown city council approves lights over Kent Street

A plan to revitalize Kent Street in downtown Charlottetown will move forward after approval by the fire department and Charlottetown city council.

Council voted 7-1 in favour of the project on Monday.

Discover Charlottetown's original proposal hit an impasse in February after the city's fire department ruled thatthe designcould get in the way of aerial firefighting.

The original plan attached lights frombuilding to building,stretching across the street.

A revised plan

Laurel Lea, tourism officer with the City of Charlottetown,saidthese plans have changed.

"The overhead lighting infrastructure itself, rather than being installed from building to building, will actually be installed from lamp post to lamp post," said Lea.

Fire inspector Kent Mitchell said the new plans meet the city's fire prevention bylaw.

"You can't have anything that's going to obstruct firefighting. So, in this latest proposal, there was nothing that would obstruct firefighting," said

Lea said new lamp posts on Kent Street willinclude LED lighting, which is more energy efficient than the current incandescent lighting.

"The city is committed to greenhouse gas reductions for our emissions."

Other measures met in the new plan includeheight requirements to allow snowplows and larger vehicles to travel underneath the light installations.

'A great opportunity'

Lea saidthe motivation for the project is two-fold.

"It's a great opportunity to revitalize a section of KentStreet that's seen a lot of private business investment over the last few years."

Lea saidit's alsonot an area where people traditionally would have gathered, but it's now becoming a hub.

Last week, Lea hosted a festival showcasing three new mural installations on Kent Street one on the rear of 151 Great George St. created by Misterpiro, one on64 King St.created by Jieun "June" Kim, and a thirdon89 Kent St.created by Eelco.

"It's going to be a really great entrance point to this new revitalized area."

The city will cover about a quarter of the cost of the Kent Street revitalization project, with the remaining costs covered by business partnerships.

Lea saidthe project installation should be complete by the end of the year, when the funding for the project expires.