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Arkon Aces Job for Safety Harbor

Arkon Power helped the city of Safety Harbor upgrade its tennis and racquetball courts with new LED lighting.

The city of Safety Harbor has gone all-in on LED lighting upgrades, and Arkon Power served up a winner for a recent installation high above several local tennis and racquetball courts.”The city has an initiative to try to use LED products as we go forward with projects,” said Dave Carrozza, Safety Harbor’s maintenance superintendent. “We were looking for a vendor that would be a turnkey operation, and that was one of the things Arkon came to the forefront on.”

Arkon has done several jobs for Safety Harbor since the city put its LED initiative in place. The latest involved replacing 16 1,000-watt metal halide bulbs over two tennis courts at Marshall Street Park with LED fixtures. Arkon engineers determined it could produce the required amount of light with just eight 600-watt LED area lights. Arkon was able to replace eight 1,000-watt metal halides on the Marshall Street racquetball courts with eight 320-watt LED streetlights.

Because the lighting would be used to illuminate a recreational area, glare was a primary concern. But Arkon worked with the city to ensure it wouldn’t be an issue, and Carrozza said local tennis and racquetball enthusiasts have been pleased with the results. “We haven’t gotten a single complaint,” Carrozza said. “That was our biggest concern.”

Safety Harbor is committed to using LEDs because of their energy efficiency and reduced maintenance costs, according to Carrozza. In addition to offering the turnkey solution the city was looking for, handling the job from sourcing to installation, Arkon’s proposal stood out for cost savings and extended warranties. “It comes down to the money standpoint and efficiency,” Carrozza said. Arkon Technical Manager Graham Brown said the project was particularly successful because his team was able to replace the existing metal halide lights with fewer LEDs using Safety Harbor’s legacy light poles.

The Safety Harbor project was Arkon’s fifth tennis court retrofit. “More and more customers are realizing LEDs are ideal for athletic settings, not only for the power and maintenance savings, but also for the improved lighting on the playing surface,” Brown said. “We anticipate this being a growth market.”