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Sandy Springs
Lighting Program Hits The Streets
From
the Sandy Springs Revitalization Milestone newsletter -- April
2002.
Overlay Ordinance Helps Recapture That
Village Appeal
In days gone by, the lamplighter was a familiar
character in every neighborhood. He serviced anywhere from 75 to a 100
gas lamps daily, cleaning globes and adjusting burners, turning them
on in the evening and off at morn. While the lamplighter has vanished
from our modern urban environment, through the efforts of Sandy
Springs Revitalization, Inc., downtown Sandy Springs is starting to
recapture some of that old-fashioned village character. Pockets of
streetscape set off by distinctive forest green streetlights are
springing up throughout the revitalization district, evidence that the
Sandy Springs Overlay Ordinance, is working and working well.
Eight new developments, including properties
like The Reddington Townhomes, Bluestone Lofts and Sandy Springs
Toyota, have already installed 40 of the new lights and 3,175 feet of
streetscape in the commercial district. In October Whispering Pines
became the first “demonstration” neighborhood to get pedestrian scale
lights. And this fall, Sandy Springs Revitalization, Inc. will install
another 104 streetlights as part of a public streetscape project
planned along a mile and a half of Roswell Road and Johnson Ferry.
Crookneck or Poletop?
SSRI’s Urban Design Committee chose the Sandy
Springs fixture – a Lumec lamp on a Union Metal pole – for its human
scale, quality of light, and easy maintenance. It is designed
specifically for pedestrian environments. The crookneck
streetlights as seen in SSRI’s Roswell Road Demonstration streetscape
are popular and appealing. As an urban design element, they create
an attractive visual rhythm along the streetscape, and will continue
to be a key feature at major intersections. Mid-block commercial
areas and neighborhoods will employ a poletop light. The
poletop lights have a globe that is designed to throw most of the
light on the sidewalk and the street, and not back into yards and
houses.
When Ghoulish Is Not Good
Did you ever hold a flashlight under your chin
to look scary? The wrong angle and color of light in a pedestrian
environment can be pretty scary too. Those tall sodium vapor roadway
lights produce a yellowish orange light at a sharp angle that casts
strange shadows and discolors skin tones and foliage. The human scale
of the new Sandy Springs pedestrian lights causes the light to shine
at a more normal angle. The lighting element is metal halide, which
offers a broader lighting spectrum and a more natural white light.
People look normal, and you can recognize who they are if you know
them.
Creating a 24-7 Lifestyle
There’s more to the Sandy Springs streetlights
than just looking good. Placed in the streetscape between the
automobiles and pedestrians, they give a sense of separation and hence
greater comfort. The spacing between lights is designed so there are
no long areas of darkness between the pools of light, making the
pedestrian system comfortable and usable ‘round the clock.
Through the
combination of public improvements spearheaded by SSRI and the
investment of private developers, Sandy Springs should soon be well on
its way to tripling the amount of installed streetscape, and achieving
the vision of the Livable Centers Plan as a walkable, livable 24-hour
lifestyle community for all to enjoy. |
