Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutSafe City - 1997-02-04 1 -- SAFECITY\1997-02-04 SAFE CITY COMMITTEE MINUTES FEBRUARY 4, 1997 The Safe City Committee held its meeting under the Chairmanship of Trudy Beaulne with the following members present: Alan Richardson, Karen Taylor-Harrison, Rita Westbrook, Rahim Atabakhsh, Philip Fernandez, Bryan Stortz, Lirondel Hazlneh and Nancy Brawley. Others Present:Brock Stanley, Julie Dean, Bob Arnot, William Sleeth, Don Snow, Tony Frensch, Peggy Walshe, Marianne Wasilka, Chris Winters, John McDonald, Phil Gabriel, Jay Cranston and Sydney Hucul (Minutes). Absent:Councillor Mark Yantzi. ACTIVITY REPORT FOR FUTURE MEETINGS From: FEBRUARY 4, 1997 NAMECOMPLETION DATETO BE DONE All Interested CommitteeIn the near futureMeet to discuss white light Membersvs. yellow light All Interested CommitteIn the near futureMeet to set-up a task force Membersto investigate the colour of light source All Committee MembersAs soon as possibleReview the Downtown Lighting Study Report and return comments ADMINISTRATIVE 1. APPROVAL OF FEBRUARY 4, 1997 AGENDA. It was moved to approve the Agenda dated February 4, 1997. 24 -- Moved By: Alan Richardson Seconded By: Rita Westbrook CARRIED. 2.APPROVAL OF JANUARY 14, 1997 MINUTES It was moved to approve the Minutes of January 14, 1997. Moved By: Alan Richardson Seconded By: Karen Taylor-Harrison CARRIED. OTHER BUSINESS 1.CONGRATULATIONS TO RITA WESTBROOK It was moved by Alan Richardson that Rita be congratulated on her promotion to Inspector Westbrook. WORKING GROUP REPORTS 1.LIGHTING WORKING GROUP PRESENTATION John MacDonald introduced himself and Phil Gabriel. They proceeded to give their presentation. Some of the key points were: the approach to Downtown activities and image should be to see the street as a place lighting won't solve the problems, but it can provide leadership the lighting recommendations are summarized on Page 1 of the Downtown Lighting Study Guide the Downtown Lighting Study Guide helps to define and understand the Downtown in the Executive Summary on Page 3 2.DISCUSSION John asked for the Safe City Committee's opinion of looking at the balance of the streetscape, of seeing the street as a place/centre and to redressing the unbalance. 25 -- Nancy stated that she agreed that the street should not be used to define boundaries. William commented that the back of the King Centre parkade and Joseph Street are so different that he could not consider them places. John stated that places need front doors. Phil commented that many think that a lot of lighting is relevant to night safety - that is not true. You need to understand the city to understand lighting; recognize that night lighting makes a difference on the sense of place; that an unconscious sense of place is created by good lighting; light and activity brings something to life. Nancy stated that she wanted to study done based on the needs of people and places. She feels that the consultants have taken a very good approach, that they are using the right perspective. Marianne stated that she owns some row-housing on Courtland Avenue and she commented that there is no lighting on the roads. She felt that they needed secondary lighting, and she would also like to know where they could put the lighting to stop car break- ins and break-ins in other areas of the complex. John stated that people becoming part of the street will balance the lighting (as it is now, the road is well lit, but the other areas are not). Marianne agreed that we live in a vehicular society and that people need to be able to feel safe when walking from cars to buildings. Phil explained that engineering guidelines are no longer being written to solely consider vehicles, but are now being rewritten to also consider pedestrians. William asked John what the "black blobs" were on the maps. John explained that they were precincts where the nature of the building show what type of institution it is and what it is used for. Market Square helps to confirm that East King is cut-off from Frederick/Scott Streets - it reinforces the precinct, and precincts are balances. Phil asked us to approach lighting from the point of view of vision and how we see. He explained that cones are used for day vision, rods and cones for evening vision, and rods for night vision. Also, our vision is seen in three colours during the day, but at night is reduced to one colour - blue. We see by contrast, and if the contrast is too great or too little, we will not be able to see properly. Peripheral vision reduces the feeling of being unsafe. Controlling the balance of source (light) is the idea of this study. Phil suggested at this time that another meeting be set up at a later date to discuss the creating of a task force to explore the issue of the colour of the light source (white vs. yellow). A ten minute video was then shown which was produced by Phil for a lighting study at the University in British Columbia. A few points of the video were: •safety is important, but comfort is more so •controlled contrast, character, purpose and attributes are considerations of lighting 26 -- design Phil stated that he was willing to continue this dialogue from out of town with anyone who was interested. John referred to the Downtown Lighting Design Study prepared by himself while discussing the summary of recommendations (page 1). Phil explained that there were key points in the margin on pages 4 and 5 of the study, and also, that the summary, the text and the appendix take the key points from a general perspective to a more detailed look. John asked the room if better lighting meant throwing more electrical energy into a space than you traditionally would have, or is it throwing less light into that space? Phil stated that it generally required more energy and a higher cost to provide better lighting, but John commented that you could have the most gain by using wasted energy (light pointed to the sky, etc.) and redirecting it to become more efficient lighting. Phil also stated that it costs more to provide lighting from nothing than it does to improve already existing lighting. Alan asked what CD stood for? Phil told him that it stood for candelas. He then showed two meters that he had brought with him. One was an illuminance meter which measures how much light there is. The second meter is a luminance meter which measures brightness (this meter can cost $6,000.00). A new meter/filter is currently being developed to measure mesopic vision (night vision). Bryan asked if HP sodium (yellow) light was out. Phil stated that they will recommend metal halide light because, even though sodium lights last longer, there are not more efficient. John asked it they could, at some point, discuss with him which places in the Downtown made them feel comfortable or horrible. Phil would also like to go out with John to see half a dozen places in the Downtown area. Bryan feels that white light is good for him. Don Snow, after having converted to yellow light, also agrees to having white light in the Downtown. Don Snow also asked if there were any scientific arguments to support the cost of white light. He felt it would be better to approach City Council with some scientific substantiation as well as the Committee's/Consultant's recommendations. Phil once again stated that he would like to have whoever is interested to meet at a later date to discuss the issue of yellow vs. white light. He would also like this meeting to be held soon. Phil explained that at first there was mercury light, then incandescent. Now, yellow light is a great improvement over nothing, but white light is preferred. In ten years, there may be another type of light that is preferred. Don stated that they are relamping the ballasts every five years. Phil commented that he did not recommend changing from yellow to white light 27 -- until the yellow light is used/spent. John also commented that it was okay to get a type of light today even if technology may change in the next few years. Julie commented that low light levels may produce enough lighting and women may see better, but many associated safety with bright lights. She wondered if consultations were ever done after lighting was changed to show that safety can be better without bright lights? Phil stated that a survey of types of light that people liked resulted in the discovery that an equal amount of people felt safety was improved versus and an equal number saying it wasn’t this conclusion may have arisen because people looked at the fixtures to determine the amount of lighting, as well as looked at the line of vision. John commented on historical areas vs. other areas. He felt that such areas as malls have appropriate lighting for their area, but a downtown area does not due to the fact that it cannot change its environment. Downtown lighting can be changed, though, to balance all activities. William was interested in Phil's evaluation of Victoria Park. Phil responded that it was a big improvement from what it was. Karen Redman inquired as to what Jay's role was in the group. Jay explained that he helped John to complete street analysis, produced drawings for the development project area, and that he would be running the working session later this evening in completing exercises to gather information. Brock handed out the preliminary copies of the study and asked that everyone read them and get back to them with any comments. He explained that the Committee was a sounding board for the City and the Consultants and that the City Council and the public would appreciate any comments that they could provide. John also stated that the glossary of lighting terms should be distributed as well. Rita enquired about the time lines for completing the study, getting approval and going ahead with the work. Julie responded that time lines were to have the initial concept by April, approval by May, and to be completed by June. There have been shifts in Public Works which now require us to re-evaluate our time lines. Phil invited anyone who wished to try out the meters to come and point them out the window to see how they work. Trudy thanked John, Phil and Jay for their presentation and for reminding us of forgotten biology. She also thanked DAC members and the Lighting Work Group for being in attendance. William asked when the comments had to be submitted. John replied that they did not have to be formally submitted (ie. in writing, etc.). John stated that they will be moving into the design phase, and that they will be discussing that at tomorrow morning's meeting. William asked for a description of how we can turn the study into Design Guidelines. Phil 28 -- explained that the study was the beginning of the guidelines, that it was the first and second chapter out of six chapters. He then invited anyone interested in defining the guidelines to join him tomorrow morning at 8:00 am in Williams to discuss it. Meeting adjourned: 6:10 pm S. Hucul LIST OF ATTACHMENTS In the Dark About the Lumen. City of Ottawa - Street Lighting Study. Glossary of Lighting Terms