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After getting poor reviews for a street lighting project on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, Marin County is spending $729,000 on a redo starting next week.

The project in Greenbrae and Kentfield is in response to residents’ complaints that the lights were too tall and too bright, creating a highway environment through the neighborhood. The lights are part of the recent $18 million overhaul of the artery.

“I’m glad that they’re going to be better, but I’m not happy about the process,” resident Steve O’Shea said of the lights, adding that his backyard was flooded with light when the fixtures were first turned on over a year ago. “The proof is going to be when they put up the new poles.”

The project will replace light poles and fixtures with shorter, more decorative poles with dimmer bulbs in the medians between Eliseo Drive and Manor Road.

The materials cost $300,000; the planning and design are $196,000; and the removal and installation cost $233,000. Columbia Electric Inc. of San Leandro has been hired for the project, said Julian Kaelon, spokesperson for the county public works department.

“It is all still covered by the remaining budget from the ‘upgrade the Drake’ project and funding from the Marin County lighting fund,” Kaelon said. He said the county expects to recoup some of the costs by reselling the removed poles to Caltrans or another agency.

The project will be done in phases. The first phase, beginning next week, involves demolishing and rebuilding the foundations for the light poles and installing new electrical wiring. One eastbound lane will be closed on a 500-foot stretch of the boulevard for the duration of that work. A westbound lane will be closed for two days during the initial week.

The second phase, which will start in the fall, is when the new poles will be installed.

The overhaul of the boulevard was completed last year after 18 months of work. Crews repaved and restriped more than 2 miles while replacing and reconfiguring crosswalks, traffic signals, turn lanes and lighting, among other changes.

The project included 79 single-light poles and 42 double-light poles, for a total of 163 lights, Kaelon said.

The lights were turned on in February 2021, which is when residents complained their yards and bedrooms were suddenly awash in bright light.

Community members said they felt blindsided by the streetlights because they were not part of the environmental impact report, a required study under the California Environmental Quality Act.

“There was no real public discussion,” said Larkspur Councilmember Kevin Haroff, who lives in the Greenbrae community and got involved with neighbors and the county to figure out what was going on. “It was excluded from CEQA, and I never understood that. I think that was frankly a mistake on the county’s part.”

Haroff said he hopes the new lights will be an improvement.

The county’s initial response to complaints was to turn off 34 lights on 17 poles. The original bulbs produced light at 12,000 lumens.

In January, public works crews replaced fixtures with bulbs of either 5,000 or 8,000 lumens at eight intersections between Elm Avenue and Eliseo Drive and added back shields to block light dispersal. That project cost $24,710. The county continued replacing fixtures and adding back shields along the sides of the boulevard beginning in June.

As for the new poles, they will be 25 feet tall compared to the 35-foot poles there now. The mast arm length will be 6 feet rather than 12 feet. They will be painted a dark forest green color similar to the poles near the Bon Air Bridge, and bulbs will be dimmer, matching the others that have already been replaced.

The new poles will require closer spacing because of the reduced height and intensity. There will be a net increase of six poles and 14 lights overall, for a total of 127 poles and 177 lights along the corridor, the county said.

“My understanding is this is going to go a long way to improve the way residents feel about the lighting on the corridor,” Larkspur Mayor Dan Hillmer said. “I’m grateful for the open communication that has gone on to make it possible, otherwise making changes is really tough.”

Residents are still weary and uneasy, said Kari Isaeff, whose backyard was affected. Isaeff called the project “a missed opportunity and inappropriate use of funds,” and that there should have been more community outreach prior to the Board of Supervisors approving the $300,000 purchase of new poles in April.

“The county seems to do what they want, regardless of community input,” Isaeff said. “There is no reason to have canopy of LED lights burning all night long. This is bad for our health, bad for the environment.”

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