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Residents of Herriman neighborhood upset as street lights remain dark for months

Posted at 9:20 PM, Jan 05, 2018
and last updated 2018-01-05 23:20:07-05

HERRIMAN, Utah -- Residents in a Herriman neighborhood said they're frustrated because of problems with street lights, leaving them in the dark every night.

The lights are installed, but the City of Herriman said a hangup between Rocky Mountain Power and contractors has kept the lights from turning on.

Fort Herriman Parkway may be a fairly new street, but it's one of the main roadways that connects to the new City Hall and Unified Police precinct.

Neighborhoods with homes, townhouses and apartments have been springing up in areas on both sides of the parkway.

Recently, the city opened an ice skating rink at City Hall, and it's already a popular place for locals to gather and have fun.

But at night, the road and neighborhood south of it have been turning into a black hole.

"It's dark and you can't see anything," Brittany Blair said.

She said she noticed the street lights didn't turn on at night when she moved in 10 months ago. A few doors down, Cynthia Carey moved in a few months after Blair.

"We're tired of it," she said, of the light situation.

While they live on Fort Herriman Parkway, the neighborhood to the east of them doesn't have working street lights either.

"I'm not happy, and I'm not very comfortable," Yiru Zhou said.

He said he avoids walking his dogs at night down Fort Herriman Parkway because of safety concerns.

Carey said it's dangerous, and she's even seen drag racers on the street that she's called the police on.

With City Hall just up the road, Tami Moody with Herriman City said their employees have noticed how dark the area gets in the evening.

Typically, she said neighborhood developers are in charge of installing street lights, then the developer goes through a process to get power to the lights before handing control of the lights over to the city.

In this case, Moody said somewhere along the way there was a disconnect between Rocky Mountain Power and contractors.

"There is no power to those lights," she explained.

Because of the length of time that's gone by without the lights receiving power and the problems it's caused with complaining residents, Moody said they may now take a look at city policy when it comes to street lights.

"There's several things that maybe we can consider on our end," she said.

She said that could include requiring street lights to be working before people move in to neighborhoods.

Until the lights on Fort Herriman Parkway and the nearby neighborhood get power, Carey said she'll be practicing patience.

Still, she hopes the problem gets fixed soon.

"I just hope somebody gets on the ball," she said.

Moody said once Rocky Mountain Power coordinates things on their end, the street lights should get power—nearly a year after they were installed.