ANN ARBOR, MI - A student advisory body says a lack of adequate street lighting in some Ann Arbor neighborhoods near the University of Michigan campus is a safety and security concern.



UM student Jeremy Glick, chairman of the city's Student Advisory Council, appeared before the City Council this week to relay the group's year-end report, highlighting concerns about under-lit streets where many UM students live.



That's been a lingering concern and topic of discussion for years, and the new student group is calling attention to it.



The Student Advisory Council was formed this year through a memorandum of understanding between the city, UM and Ann Arbor Public Schools for the purpose of promoting dialogue and increased collaboration between students and the city.



The student council is an independent body that includes representatives from UM's Central Student Government, Rackham Student Government and Ann Arbor high school students.



Glick said the council met monthly throughout this year, often joined by City Council Member Julie Grand, the City Council's liaison to the student group, City Administrator Howard Lazarus and Jim Kosteva, UM's director of community relations.



During the meetings, Glick said, they received presentations from city and university organizations, discussed issues relevant to students and planned possible recommendations for the City Council.



"One of the projects which received a large part of our attention was the issue of adequate street lighting in off-campus neighborhoods," Glick told council members. "This is an issue, as I'm sure you're aware, that is of great concern to students and their safety and security."



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In order to tackle the issue and make recommendations, Glick said, students on the advisory council went into neighborhoods off Hill and Packard streets near the UM campus and conducted surveys of areas where lighting is believed to be inadequate. The findings of the surveys are included in the group's year-end report.



The report states the group identified two broad areas where there are large populations of students and "where we felt lighting needs may not be fully addressed." That includes the neighborhoods off Hill and Packard, and the Kerrytown area.



"In surveying the Hill & Packard area, we found that certain areas were very well lit, beyond our expectations, while others were completely dark," the report states. "Due to time constraints, the surveying of the Kerrytown neighborhood was not yet completed, although we hope the 2018 SAC will continue this project."



Council members didn't offer any immediate responses to the report at Monday night's meeting.



The report includes photos from September, showing examples of under-lit streets such as Cambridge, Forest, Prospect and Oakland and Arbor. The report acknowledges some of the issues identified in the report may have been resolved by now, though the council still has concerns about areas that may be under-lit.



Kosteva, UM's liaison to the student council, said there's been discussion among members of the council about the criteria Ann Arbor uses for deciding where additional street lighting is needed.



Notably, he said, the student representatives have been concerned that the criteria included traffic-crash information, but not criminal-activity information as to whether or not a particular neighborhood had a greater number of break-ins or assaults.



"So it was more vehicular-based criteria," Kosteva said, indicating there's an interest in taking into consideration crime.



Kosteva said it's premature to speculate whether the university might contribute funds for additional streetlights in the off-campus neighborhoods where many students live. He said more assessment is needed to determine where increased lighting is warranted.



He said the university is always concerned and interested in the safety of students whether they live on or off campus.



Street lighting is an issue that's gotten increased attention from the city in the past two years.



The City Council lifted a moratorium on new streetlights in 2015 and voted in October 2016 to spend $200,000 on new streetlights to brighten some under-lit areas, giving priority to Nixon Road, Dhu Varren Road, Washtenaw Avenue, Division Street and East University Avenue. Second-tier priorities included Fuller Road, including near Huron High School, and Geddes Avenue.



In January, the City Council also voted to move forward with a $143,296 assessment of local streetlight conditions.



City officials said last year there were more than 7,000 streetlights operating at night in Ann Arbor, including more than 2,500 owned and maintained by the city. DTE Energy owns and maintains the rest.



A revised figure provided by the city in January put the number of city-owned streetlights at roughly 2,300.



In July, the City Council approved a nearly $1.1 million project for new LED streetlights downtown, including the Kerrytown area.

Street lighting also was an issue during the City Council's 2017-18 budget deliberations in May.



Council Members Jane Lumm, an independent from the 2nd Ward, and Jack Eaton, D-4th Ward, argued there are neighborhoods and crosswalks that lack adequate street lighting and they consider it a safety issue. They noted the budget included new recurring funding of $300,000 per year for streetlight replacement but did not include money for new streetlights.



They proposed reducing the amount of money the city is going to spend on workforce planning by $150,000 and putting that toward new streetlights, noting the city already has determined a number of high-priority locations. The council decided instead to take $150,000 from the general fund cash reserves for new street lighting.



Council Member Chuck Warpehoski, D-5th Ward, said at the time he still thinks the city has streetlights in places where they don't make sense or aren't producing any benefit, so he'd like to see the city look at that as it considers where streetlights are and aren't needed.