City, HOA go back and forth on Loma Colorado lighting months before pedestrian death

Outraged residents in Loma Colorado are demanding improvements to their crosswalks after a man was killed in a crosswalk Oct. 24 after being struck by a car while walking his dog.

Michael Warnken was that pedestrian, and according to a petition started by his granddaughter, he served as an HOA board of directors member for the Loma Colorado neighborhood.

“Tragically, his life was cut short on October 24th while crossing a crosswalk near his home. Despite wearing a bright light on his hat — even his dog had a light around her collar — he passed almost instantly after he was hit,” she wrote in a petition to install flashing lights at every crosswalk in the Loma Colorado neighborhood.

The petition on Change.org has more than 670 signatures so far, with a goal of 1,000.

“Loma Colorado should not lose another valuable member due to inadequate safety measures at crosswalks. Let’s honor Mike Warnken’s memory by making sure that every crosswalk in our community has flashing lights installed for better visibility and safety,” the petition said.

Others have taken to social media saying, they want better streetlights, more crosswalks and flashing lights to make the crosswalks safer.

However, the process of the improvements residents are demanding involves cooperation from both the city and the Loma Colorado Community Association, and it has been a back-and forth issue for months.

The city has conducted multiple mid-block crossing studies along Terraza Boulevard since August 2022, and speed volume studies date back years to November 2011.

The city analyzes neighborhood crosswalks to see if a location is warranted for lighting changes. The standards indicate that “the proposed location must have existing street lighting sufficient to adequately illuminate the proposed crossing location or such street lighting must be planned as part of the crossing installation.”

“The city is not studying lighting at Loma Vista and Terraza Blvd., nor is the city looking at the replacement of all lights within the Loma Colorado community. The non-standard light at Loma Vista Blvd. and Terraza Blvd. needs to be replaced, so the city is doing its due diligence to ensure that an appropriate replacement is used,” it says in the city’s subdivision FAQ’s for Loma Colorado.

The midblock crossing pedestrian study allowed the city a better understanding of how the existing decorative poles/fixtures provide light to their surrounding areas. The study confirmed that the street lights do not adequately light their surroundings, especially at the pedestrian crossings in Loma Colorado.

The city says it follows national design standards of American National Standard Practice for Roadway Lighting for street lighting. Following this, as well as the Federal Highway Administration Lighting Handbook, crosswalk lights are supposed to have a certain light coverage in a set space.

According to the city’s findings, most crosswalks in Loma Colorado, including along Terraza Bouldvard at Las Medanales Court, Los Miradores Drive (West), Valle Alto Drive and Puenta Alto Avenue, which are four of the six remaining crosswalks after five were removed after the city’s pedestrian studies, “do not adequately light the pedestrian crossings.” However, the only crosswalk that met criteria for the Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons (RRFB) was at Monte Vista, and its installation was expected to be complete by Dec. 20, according to city documents.

The city’s recommendations from the FAQs and traffic study were sent to the Loma Colorado Community Association Aug. 11 as a request for fall changes.

“It is recommended that when replacements are needed the street lights be upgraded to one of the City standard lights that have pole heights and fixtures available to provide adequate lighting. The City strives to make improvements any time lighting is upgraded or improved … When a street light pole requires replacement, one that most appropriately meets the needs is used,” the recommendations state.

The city went on to offer the matching, decorative fixtures “that meet the appropriate lighting warrant criteria if the HOA is willing to pay the cost difference and retain future maintenance.”

However, on Oct. 4, LCAA/HOA board president Mark Schreiber wrote to the city with the “community’s” reservations.

“Regarding the proposed changes to the street lights, the community is opposed to any adoption of the taller, brighter and uglier city lights,” Schreiber wrote.

Schreiber added that “uglier” probably wasn’t the best term to use but that it reflected the “sentiment of the community.”

Schreiber wrote that the board has some suggestions that could work instead of the city’s proposed changes.

“Instead, the community proposes the following course of action: 1. Re-bulb the fixtures at crosswalks with LEDs. 2. Replace the damaged light at Terraza and Loma Vista with hardware that matches other community lights, noting this should be covered by insurance. 3. By February 2024 the HOA board, the composition of which is changing on October 11, will re-evaluate the community’s course of action,” Schreiber writes.

At the end of the letter Schreiber says the city had every chance to suggest different lighting when the builders were working on the plans.

“As justification for this course of action, the city has on file and even references a document from the builder that describes the intentions of and the actions planned for installing street lights within Terraza. The city had every opportunity to reject that plan or find issue with its implementation over a period that extended for years. In choosing not to do so, the city implicitly accepted the community’s solution to the many competing interests (daytime aesthetics, illumination that extends into home, effect on night sky, crosswalk illumination and more), and the community chooses to remain with that solution,” Schreiber wrote.

Deputy City Manager Peter Wells also noted that this response contained no willingness to explore paying the cost difference of acknowledgement of the offer and said the HOA’s statement of “‘the community chooses to remain with that solution’ … is a rejection of taking on costs to maintain the aesthetic desired by the HOA.”

The city responded to this letter on Dec. 1, saying the August FAQ document communicated that lighting enhancements are warranted at five of the existing six locations with crosswalks: Las Medanales, Valle Alto, Puenta Alto, Monte Vista and Los Miradores (west) because of the July 2023 mid-block crossing analysis, which concluded the existing decorative lights were not sufficient to meet national guidelines.

“The City engaged a professional, licensed engineer to design the installation of new street lights. The final design is slated for December 2023. Thereafter, the City will order the needed streetlights and equipment for anticipated installation by spring 2024. The streetlights will be the City’s standard 25(-foot) spun aluminum light poles. The total estimated project cost is $210,500. The City will maintain these lights,” City Manager Matt Geisel wrote.

Geisel also specified that the decretive lights that the HOA is requesting would add an additional $105,000 in expense, re-iterating the offer to install that option if the association covered the additional cost. He also noted that the city explored the option of PNM decorative box lights, similar to the lights in Cabezon, but they would not be available until fall 2024, delaying replacement by at least six months.

“The city cannot justify using taxpayer funds to replace decorative lighting just in Loma Colorado, as it is considerably more costly than other city-maintained residential streetlights and would be inequitable to other residents across the city,” Geisel continues.

He also said the Loma Colorado Community Association seems to assert that municipal government has an obligation to follow the wants of LCCA and continue to utilize original, developer installed decorative lighting that is now inadequate for lighting purposes and was indiscriminately placed, necessitating location adjustment to align with crosswalk placement.

“LCCA’s wants related to prioritizing aesthetics are not in the best interest of community safety and does not align with the most recent pedestrian/mid-block crossing analysis of July 2023 and associated policies, design guidance, or best practices,” Geisel wrote.

Pending the installation of the new streetlights to improve the illumination of mid-block crossing, Geisel says the issue is closed.

There has been no response to this letter from the Loma Colorado Community Association as of Dec. 21.