UPDATE: Barrie city council gave final approval to a motion to replace the lights, not exceeding $4,000, at its Nov. 226, 2018 meeting without any discussion.
*************************
You have to change the light bulbs every now and then in your home; the Spirit Catcher is no different.
The iconic art installation along Barrie’s waterfront is due for some new illumination and council is looking at installing new lighting around the sculpture.
The new high-efficiency LED lights would not exceed $4,000 and would be white in colour.
“It’s a relatively small project at $4,000 … but certainly it will be pretty prominent once it’s completed,” Mayor Jeff Lehman said during Monday night’s general committee meeting. “The Spirit Catcher is a little brighter for all of us.”
A staff report says the new lights would enhance viewing the Spirit Catcher in the evening and make it more attractive to both residents and tourists.
A visit to the Spirit Catcher on Monday night showed the sculpture to be poorly illuminated and not very prominent along the lakeshore once the sun sets.
The Spirit Catcher, created by Ron Baird, was installed at Barrie’s waterfront in 1987. At that time, four ground-based lights projected upwards were placed to illuminate the structure.
“The existing metal halide fixtures are nearing end of life, which has reduced the light output and quality,” Adam McMullin, the city’s manager of energy management, wrote in a staff report.
Improvements in LED technology provide a cost-effective way to increase the brightness of the Spirit Catcher lighting, McMullin added.
“LED lights require less power, provide better beam spread and last significantly longer than the lights currently installed,” McMullin said.
One option McMullin outlined in his report was programmable colour-changing fixtures. However, that option is more than quadruple the cost of standard white lights.
“While significantly more expensive than a standard white-light fixture, these alternative colour-changing fixtures add the ability for staff to easily change light colours as may be appropriate for waterfront events, further enhancing the lighting of the Spirit Catcher,” McMullin wrote.
The white lights, which were recommended by city staff, are expected to cost $4,000 while the colour-changing option, for mock-up purposes, would be almost $19,000.
The white lights were endorsed on consent with minimal discussion on Monday night.
A final decision will be made at next week’s city council meeting on Monday, Nov. 26.
