OXFORD — The city of Oxford intends to brighten the area around the downtown Square by adding new lighting to nearby parking areas.
The Oxford Eagles reports that a local historic preservation commission signed off on the plan presented by Oxford Electric Co. this past week.
Rob Neely with the Oxford Electric said the mayor asked the electric company to install some lights in four satellite parking areas to make them more secure.
Plans to make the inner circle of the Square an all green space and building a parking garage but those are long-term proposals. City officials want to encourage more people to use the free satellite parking areas to help relieve congestion on the Square.
Neely said most of the new lights will be cobra-styled lights on the tall cement poles, typical of city street lights, with 400 watt bulbs.
However, in the parking area behind City Hall, the smaller, more attractive antique lights will remain and two flood lights will be installed overlooking the parking lot, along with at least two of the cement, cobra lights.
“So the idea is to keep the ambiance, but make the parking lot safer,” said Andy Phillips, board president of the Courthouse Historic Preservation Commission.
The parking area behind Oxford Square North, near the federal building, will get stronger lights, Neely said.
“There, we will be putting in four new poles with 600-watt lights,” he told the commission. “I believe there are plans to do some minor repair work to the parking lot and some landscaping.”
Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 43 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.