Lanterns will help Town Shine

  Essex Online

ESSEX -- A plan to lower the lights along the streets of two villages in Essex would bring an understated tone that should enhance the historic neighborhoods that have a mix of residential and commercial buildings.

Using a $486,000 state Small Town Economic Assistance Program grant, the town plans to install lantern-style streetlights with metal halide lamps on 13-foot poles down the length of Main Street in Essex village and in the center of the Ivoryton section. The project also calls for installing 4,000 feet of granite curbing and new concrete sidewalks in Essex village.

Residents will have an opportunity to comment on the improvement projects designed for Essex village and Ivoryton at a public hearing Dec. 20 at 7:30 p.m. in town hall. Designs for the projects will be available for inspection and comment.

Plans call for the installation of 40 new lights in Essex village and 23 new lights in Ivoryton. The new lights will have 100-watt bulbs as opposed to the existing 400-watt bulbs mounted on poles that are about 25 feet high. The effect should be like lowering the ceiling of darkness on the street while offering plenty of illumination for drivers and pedestrians.

Installing the lanterns is the kind of refinement in street design that creates an inviting, warm feeling that highlights the surroundings rather than inundating them with prison-yard-level wattage.

First Selectman Phil Miller expects the town to put the projects out to bid in January and get work started in March when visits to town are lowest of the year. The new sidewalks in Essex village will be made of concrete and scored to look like paving blocks. The long-lasting and more attractive granite curbs will replace concrete.

By spring and summer, when residents and tourists come out to stroll to shops and restaurants, a glow of lantern light should suffuse the evening air and recall the days when big sailing ships tied up at the foot of Main Street.