By Andy Sevilla

While it’s not too common, it’s not unheard of for a vehicle to clip a light post on a public street, warranting its replacement. But one Kyle neighborhood wants to make sure those replacement streetlight poles remain, for lack of a better word, fancy.

Benchmark Development, the developers of Plum Creek in western Kyle, is proposing a policy change for replacement poles; the Homeowners Association (HOA) will pay the difference between the city’s cost to replace their decorative poles and the cost of a standard city light pole.

Normally it costs the city of Kyle $930 to replace a light post, Assistant City Manager James Earp told council at the July 15 meeting. The city purchases the metal pole, installs it and then PEC wires the electricity, he said.

“Typically whenever poles are clipped or hit or damaged, we can point to who the people are who did that and we get insurance claims to pay for that (replacement pole),” Earp said. “But on the rare occasion that it’s an unknown person or party, then that’s the position whenever the city will be out of any type of funds and we’d have to do some type of work.”

Under the proposed agreement with Plum Creek, the city’s exposure in replacing a streetlight pole at that neighborhood will be capped at $930 — the average cost for pole replacement, Earp said. Plum Creek’s HOA would then pay the difference — which could amount to as much as $2,000 — to ensure a decorative pole replaces the former one. 

Plum Creek was the first Kyle subdivision to incorporate decorative streetlights in its development standards, according to Earp. The neighborhood’s developers are responsible for the full cost of purchasing and installing the initial posts, per the development agreement, but replacement poles were not addressed in the binding document.

Plum Creek’s developers, with city staff’s blessing, are now asking council members to amend their development agreement and incorporate the proposed changes.

Kyle Mayor Todd Webster said that, while he has a hard time treating homeowners in one neighborhood differently from homeowners in every other subdivision in the city, not entering into the proposed agreement could have unintended consequences. 

“The risk that we have in outright dismissing this approach is that we can disincentivize the use of decorative lighting in our neighborhoods,” Webster said. “… In the past, through the PUDs (Public Utility District), it was something that we were looking for and something we were seen as trying to accomplish.”

Council member Samantha LeMense, who said she agrees with Webster, also wanted the new rules to apply to all neighborhoods in Kyle. She said the city should make an effort to speak with all the HOAs, specifically Hometown Kyle, which also has decorative streetlight poles. 

“I think we’re very willing to do that,” Earp said. “And generally since this is a policy decision about how the council wants us to approach these issues that helps us, frankly, in the future when we have additional subdivisions that come in and want to talk about different poles. Now we know here’s how the process works.”

Council member David Wilson who supports the replacement pole proposal said the new rules wouldn’t give Plum Creek any special treatment. 

“If we have $930 — if that’s our exposure — and that’s what a pole costs in another neighborhood, I don’t see that Plum Creek is getting any advantage out of this,” Wilson said. “… And from a property tax valuation, I think Plum Creek is certainly paying their freight.”

The city’s exposure, however, is a little more wide-ranging in Plum Creek when compared to other Kyle neighborhoods. Earp said that because of the lower luminary output of decorative poles, there are many more in place than in neighborhoods with city issued poles. 

City code calls for a maximum of 500 feet between streetlights in neighborhoods. Earp was unable to answer LeMense’s question on how many streetlight poles Plum Creek had, as PEC had not returned his request for an answer on that issue before the council meeting, he said. 

“The fact that the lights are closer together doesn’t bother me,” Webster said. “I think our risk is — and I would say the same about Hometown Kyle or any other neighborhood — I think the risk is minimized by this approach, because it’s just replacements and they’re capped (at $930).”

Council members will take a vote on amending Plum Creek’s development agreement and incorporating the proposed changes in August. Appeasing LeMense’s concerns for fairness and consistency throughout Kyle neighborhoods, he said “staff has heard we’re also going to address it citywide in the same fashion so it’s fair and equitable.”