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Holiday Lights at the Beach

Program

August 1, 2017Thomas Leahy, Deputy City Manager

Holiday Lights Program - Background

•Holiday Lights Program First Implemented in 1995

•Thanksgiving thru New Years

•321 +/- lighted displays, from 2nd thru 33rd

Streets on the Boardwalk

•Average attendance about 25,300 vehicles and 100,000 persons per year (most recent five-year average)

Holiday Lights Program: Expenditures

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 5-Year Ave

Production Expense $49,511 $66,880 $74,187 $62,239 $74,964 $65,556

Labor $166,435 $158,063 $157,913 $173,925 $170,902 $165,448

Marketing $38,351 $46,395 $33,430 $32,346 $28,456 $35,796

Admin Fee $63,338 $54,864 $55,957 $66,911 $60,054 $60,225

Admissions Taxes paid to City $28,790 $24,938 $25,435 $30,414 $27,297 $27,375

Sponsorship Commission $7,500 $7,500 $7,500 $9,500 $14,640 $9,328

New Light Displays $11,900 $30,813 $10,730 $70,699 $3,057 $25,440

Refurbishing Displays $0 $54,668 $19,727 $1,275 $220,000 $59,134

TOTAL EXPENSES $365,825 $444,120 $384,877 $447,309 $599,371 $448,300

Holiday Lights Program: Revenues (Gross and Net)

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 5-Year Ave

Annual City Funding $50,000 $50,000 $50,000 $50,000 $50,000 $50,000

Sponsorship $35,000 $32,000 $50,500 $51,125 $53,725 $44,470

Ticket Sales $318,906 $271,671 $277,503 $333,403 $300,142 $300,325

Vendor/Miscellaneous $5,672 $5,571 $12 $3,900 $3,000 $3,631

Additional City Funding $0 $50,865 $0 $0 $220,000 $54,173

TOTAL REVENUE $409,578 $410,107 $378,015 $438,427 $626,867 $452,599

TOTAL EXPENSES $365,825 $444,120 $384,877 $447,309 $599,371 $448,300

NET Program $43,753 -$34,013 -$6,862 -$8,882 $27,497 $4,299

Holiday Lights Program - Background

• 321 +/- lighted displays Owned by the City

• Each display assembled from multiple panels

• Thousands of panels

• Many thousands of electrical connections

• When not in use, panels and frames are stored in a leased warehouse

City Contracts with BeachEvents for Holiday Lights

• If held – Beachevents obligation is to “. . . plan, schedule, stage, and/or coordinate . . . Holiday Lights at the Beach . . .

• No other detail in contract, but at a minimum, BeachEvents must:

• Remove the panels from storage

• Transport to the oceanfront, assemble, and light-up displays

• Manage all aspects of the nightly program

• Keep displays working for the six-week duration

• Disassemble the displays and return them to storage

• Contract with BeachEvents does not include, nor ever envisioned, any type of long-term, sustainable renewal and replacement program

Holiday Lights - Keeping the Displays Lighted

• Easier said than done

• Storms blow the displays over, damage them and saturate them with seawater

• Vandalism, tampering, pilferage

• Continuous wiring, light bulb, and other electrical failures requiring many hundreds of on-the-spot and as-needed repairs to the wiring and the lights to keep them working night-after-night

• These ad-hoc repairs have kept the show going for twenty years and have kept the annual cost of the program low

• Did not substitute for a long-term sustainable renewal and replacement program

Electrical Power for Holiday Lights

• Boardwalk Power supplied from 43 City-owned, permanent power pedestals on west side of the boardwalk at 26 intersections

• Constructed in the mid-1980’s, operated and maintained by Public Works

• 200 – 400 amp service, some higher

• Holiday lights requires the use of 40 temporary panelboards and a series of spider boxes fed from the 43 permanent pedestals

• None of the pedestals, panel, or spider boxes were ground fault protected before 2016

Boardwalk Power and Arc-Flash Hazards

• Arc-flash is a type of electrical explosion or discharge that results from a low-impedance connection through air to ground or another voltage phase in an electrical system

• 2014: OSHA adopted revised standards for arc-flash protection and assessing arc-flash hazards

• 2014: Boardwalk lighting project revealed arc-flash concerns at every one of the permanent pedestals. Many of the pedestals were also exhibiting rust and other deterioration

• 2015: City-wide arc flash hazard study found 31 of 43 pedestals at the oceanfront had arc flash hazard rating of either Level 4, or Level Danger. Determined to be a serious safety hazard

Boardwalk Power Other Issues• Many pedestals wired directly to Dominion Power Transformer – no

master breaker switch

• Transformers shared with adjacent hotels and businesses

• To kill power to the pedestal, must kill power to the hotel or business sharing the transformer

• None of the permanent pedestals, temporary pedestals, or spider boxes were compliant with National Electric Code for Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI) requirements

• 2016: Public Works began upgrading the boardwalk power pedestals to protect employees and the public, and to be compliant with OSHA and NEC requirements. Three pedestals were upgraded in fall 2016

Holiday Lights and Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters

• A Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI) device will trip-open an electric power circuit when it detects any unintended current flowing to ground

• Virtually any current (5-10 milliamps) diverted to ground through any conductor (metal, water, people) will trip-open the devices

Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI) Devices

Holiday Lights Program – 2016 Season

• In 2016, Beachevents experienced major issues with any display connected to any power source with GFCI protection. The GFCI devices were constantly tripping-open and cutting power to the displays

• To get through the 2016 season, Beachevents worked around the three upgraded panels

GFCI – What is the Problem?

• Displays are metal frames with hundreds to thousands of sockets/bulbs, and hundreds of feet of wiring. It’s all exterior grade but not waterproof or designed for marine environment

• Seawater is 3.5% salt. Salt imparts substantial corrosive and conductive properties to water, moisture, and humidity

• GFCI tripping is caused by water and moisture creating small short circuits from the wire, sockets, and bulbs, to the displays (which are grounded)

• New wiring and sockets with dielectric grease and seals are more resistant – but not immune. Wear and tear from assembly/disassembly, climbing on displays to change bulbs/repair wiring, and the ocean environment quickly breaks down both the wiring and the coatings on the displays providing an unlimited number of electrical pathways to ground

Holiday Lights Wiring - Chloride Corrosion

Holiday Lights Program – The Bottom Line• Beachevents has made valiant efforts over the years to ensure that the

“show will go on”. But even before the GFCI problem, Beachevents struggled to keep the displays lighted

• The oceanfront is the harshest environment possible for this type of application

• The GFCI requirement has introduced a truly problematic issue

• The use of 120 VAC light strings for Holiday Lights in the moist, saline, oceanfront environment is incompatible with the required GFCI protection

• It is not an option to ignore or bypass the legal requirement to provide GFCI protection

Question: Are there Alternatives?

• Beachevents and the City have been experimenting with 12 Volt DC (VDC) lights

• 12 VDC is not a safety hazard and the NEC does not apply to devices that operate on 50 volts or less

• The 120 VAC LED bulbs and the 12 VDC LED bulbs use the same sockets and wiring

• Displays may be converted from 120 VAC to 12 VDC by switching the bulbs and connecting the light string to a 12 VDC power supply

• Waterproof 12 VDC landscaping power supplies are abundant on the market and they are not expensive

Are there Alternatives? Answer: Maybe

• After testing several displays Beachevents has found that 12 VDC displays are very resistant to tripping the GFCI devices

• Tests have been conducted upon only a few displays, for a period of a few weeks, and on the greenbelt side of the boardwalk

• Cannot project this level of success to several hundred displays that must all function continuously for six weeks, on the beachside of the boardwalk – especially in the aftermath of a storm

• There are other uncertainties involving the animated displays and whether voltage loss due to the accumulation of salt and moisture might cause the displays to dim out in the middle of the show

• Need real world testing, of many displays, and on the beach

Holiday Lights Program - Alternatives

• Full-scale traditional program: Not available for the 2017 season as there is not enough time to convert all the displays

• Scaled down program: Not available for the 2017 season as there is not enough time to convert even half half of the displays.

• Cancel the 2017 program but test various options and technologies for the future. Convert and setup several dozen displays where they could be seen from the boardwalk and hotel balconies. Cost would be about $175,000 and the financial commitment would need to be made immediately

• Cancel the Holiday Lights program altogether

Discussion/Questions


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