Mount Gretna Borough discusses LED streetlight conversion

This article was funded by LebTown donors as part of our Civic Impact Reporting Project.

Mount Gretna Borough Council members discussed a forthcoming LED streetlight conversion plan at their March 9 meeting.

FirstEnergy, the parent utility company that operates Met-Ed, is enacting a statewide LED streetlight conversion program that will apply to the 63 streetlights owned by Met-Ed in Mount Gretna to provide roadway lighting.

Met-Ed plans to replace the existing non-LED cobra-head fixtures with LED fixtures at no charge as part of a conversion mandated by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. The borough-built light fixtures with ruffled shades are not part of the conversion plan as they are locally owned.

Council president Deb Simpson said the conversions began in 2025 in some areas and are set to be completed across the state by 2029. Mount Gretna has not yet received notice of when the changes will be made in the borough.

Simpson explained that the borough is able to provide input into the brightness and color temperature for the streetlights being changed. “They have choices and some of them are within the environmentally friendly temperatures,” said Simpson. “We’ll know more once we get the state’s schedule to do an inventory.”

Resident Marla Pitts spoke about the detrimental effects of artificial light pollution on the environment and humans. “In the forest community when you have the canopy, the corridors, and then the reflection from the understory, it creates what they call tunnel vision, or the chainsaw effect, and it basically sends the light deeper into the forest and interrupts bird migration and mammals – where they go and don’t go,” Pitts said. “It has a very significant impact on the health of the forest.

“I hope that the community can come together, because we should be stewards of our forest and the ecology of it. It’s not just a backdrop for our scenic appreciation. It’s an important ecological and environmental part of who Gretna is, and I think it’s really important and a big issue going forward.”

During public comment, council also heard a request from resident Jim Cassel for borough meetings to be available via Zoom. Cassel suggested making the borough’s monthly financial information more accessible to interested residents and enquired as to whether any long range financial planning has been done for the borough.

In other business:

• Council approved paying $5,500 to a local contractor to upgrade stairs running from State Avenue to 428 Pennsylvania Ave. to bring them to code and to install a handicap accessible railing. 
• Council approved the renewal of short-term rental applications for 202 Harvard Ave. and 402 Lancaster Ave. 
• Discussed the possibility of adjusting an ordinance regarding short-term rentals to say that current assessments must be paid during the term of the license or face the risk of having that license revoked by the borough.
• Mayor Kerry Royer noted that Mount Gretna Outdoor Art Show applications are due April 1 and encouraged interested artists to apply. (Royer is director of the show.)
• The police report for February listed two accidents, one harassment call, and two suspicious activity calls.
• Mount Gretna Fire Company reported 16 total calls for February, with five being within the borough and 11 for mutual aid in surrounding areas.

Mount Gretna Borough Council will meet next at 6 p.m. on April 13 in the firehall on Boulevard Avenue.