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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-05-12 Business and Economic Development Committee Minutes BUSINESS& ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE City Hall Council Chambers Wednesday, May 12,2010, 5:00 pm SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES Councilors: Chair Weston, Bronson,Gratwick,Nealley and Wheeler Staff: McKay, Ring,Shirar Patterson Others: Jeff LaTourno, U.M. System -Network Maine Group; Karen Glowa,Commercial Account Exec.w/Time Warner Cable; Brian Paul,VP of Business Development w/ Oxford Networks;Steve Buza of Fairpoint Communications Chair Weston opened the meeting stating that this is a Special meeting of the BED Committee in order to begin conversation on broadband access to the downtown Bangor area. 1. Those present introduced themselves for the record. 2. Overview of the issue and meeting purpose • Existing connections and Conduits At Chair Weston's request, Steve Buza of Fairpoint Communications began his presentation with identifying what exists for underground facilities and what their capabilities are in the predominant areas of Main Street, Harlow and Central Streets(as these areas are an asset of Fairpoint). Fairpoint installs new fiber on a regular basis for customers, but with the copper infrastructure it is limited to about 40 mgs. Where there is copper, Fairpoint is'rolling out' products in the next few months that will allow them to provide up to 40 mgs.via copper; beyond that limitation then they'd deliver fiber to the customer. Chair Weston further asked if there are certain features and functionalities of that infrastructure that's unique to Fairpoint that does not exist for other companies and would they have access that restricts growth in downtown. Steve Buza replied that it is a Fairpoint asset that they use to provide services to customers and their competitive local exchange carriers that lease those facilities and resell them -there are multiple carriers that can use those facilities. In terms of how that compares to other carriers in the area, I would leave that up to the City Council to determine. There are many facilities in the downtown area which Fairpoint can put on a map in more detail and provide information as to what that means in terms of what Fairpoint can do today vs. what their plans are going to be in the next 6 months vs. 2 years from now. Karen Glowa of Time Warner stated that they have no available conduit to them in downtown Bangor, so Time Warner Cable would have to take the initiative to do a spec build and build out the downtown. There is extensive cost associated with this. It is something that Time Warner Cable has looked into but as of right now the restriction is that there's no available conduit. Brian Paul of Oxford Networks stated that they have built approximately 41 miles of fiber network in Bangor; they have availability to the poles under a regulatory arena that allows them to have access to those poles. In the downtown, it is difficult to obtain access to existing conduits that are available. They have done research both with power companies and other incoming phone companies which resulted in that basically there's nothing available at this point. Oxford Networks has looked at other things outside of the existing conduits such as a possibility of using the canals and building on the inside and going through the buildings, maybe building the building. They're open to any and all solutions. However, it will be costly and not necessarily quick—creativity will be helpful. 3. Outline Action Steps to Increase Broadband Access City Engineer Jim Ring reviewed an aerial map of the underground inventory of what's available, full, under capacity or over capacity adding that the underground system in the downtown dates back to the 1960's. He outlined what is needed in terms of further information: a)determine what is physically in the ground, both in terms of hard facilities(conduit and structures where connections are made) and if there's space or not; b)does that cover this entire area and need to identify gaps from the existing underground system. c)what is the space or capacity within the existing system or what do we need. Collectively it would be helpful to understand what the various service providers think in their business plans and to know what they each have. d) is there service or not service—perhaps an inadequate level of service meaning capacity or an absence of competitive service. All of this information will be helpful in making decisions for any type of expansion of improved capability throughout the downtown. The next step beyond this is determining access to buildings,gather information that the utilities can provide, and assess what the future needs are. Discussion continued on the various challenges of providing an underground conduit system for broadband. It was noted that another important aspect in looking at a long term solution is knowing what the City can do to make it easier for the commercial sector to provide services downtown. Also noted that as the buildings in the downtown are clustered that going in at one of the buildings and then proceed underneath from basement to basement would reduce the amount of digging up sidewalks,traffic control,etc. thus reducing costs. 4. Discuss potential funding options Options discussed that may qualify for funds outside of the City—federal funds or growth funds; also discussion on broadband initiatives, as well as downtown and economic development initiatives. 5. Prioritize next steps • need to continue conversation on what we did not touch on—continue the fact vs fiction model. • include more than just the current landscape of service providers as well as the current landscape of services. • determine who else can be invited to join in conversations with starting the map from a physical point of view. • conversation needs to be friendly to both the consumer and the provider. • after we develop a plan of where we're going, put together an inventory of our maps, and goals to serve us as we look at outside sources to assist with funding. Chair Weston expressed his appreciation for all those who participated in this conversation and hopes they want to stay involved as it is good for the City,tenants and providers to keep going. Meeting adjourned.