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Proposed lighting at Delta facilities comes with big costs and savings

Delta could be spending major dollars to update the lighting at several civic buildings.
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The arena lighting at the Sungod Recreation Centre and other Delta facilities would come at a big price tag.

Delta could be spending major dollars to update the lighting at several civic buildings.

Delta council recently agreed to send a proposal to convert lighting at four recreation facilities to new LED technology to a business plan workshop for further consideration.

A report to council notes LED technologies have become the preferred method of lighting due to their reduced electrical maintenance costs, and many municipalities are retrofitting facilities with the technology.

In 2015, LED retrofits occurred at Tilbury Ice over the ice surface and in 2016, the lighting in the pool chamber at the Ladner Leisure Centre was replaced.

Those projects resulted in a five per cent reduction in electrical costs.

However, since Delta maintains five recreation centres plus many other facilities, such as city hall, seniors’ centres, libraries and police headquarters, retrofitting all buildings at once would be costly and disruptive, the report notes.

The report states the following facilities are most suited for LED upgrades: South Delta Recreation Centre (ice arena and curling rink), Ladner Leisure Centre (ice arena), North Delta Recreation Centre (ice arena and curling rick) and the Sungod Recreation Centre (ice arena and pool chamber).

Following that, staff suggested other retrofits could include banquet rooms at the Ladner Community Centre, South Delta Recreation Centre and North Delta Recreation Centre, plus retrofitting the lights at city hall could also be considered.

The report notes costs estimates vary from $25,000 per curling rink to $35,000 per arena and $50,000 for a pool chamber. To retrofit the recommended initial arena and pool sites would cost an estimated $240,000.

The preliminary costs indicate a return on investment in about four years, the report notes.

Further funding could be considered to convert other facilities in future years.