Franchise Fee Dispute, Delays in Getting Permits Slow Some BTOP Projects
Despite Q3 progress on BTOP projects overall, some faced delays due to problems in negotiating franchise agreements and getting permits. An $11 million project in Oregon stalled in Oregon City over franchise fee issues, while a project in Ohio was behind schedule due to delays in “make-ready” and other permitting. But NTIA expects the pace of delivered miles to continue to increase in coming quarters now that most infrastructure recipients have completed environmental and historic preservation requirements, it said.
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Cities have been more deliberate than expected in resolving generic issues about the county’s right to own a fiber system in their rights of ways, according to the latest progress report by David DeVore, deputy information officer of Clackamas County, Ore. The county won $7.8 million in stimulus funding to build a 185-mile fiber network to connect anchor institutions in places including Oregon City. By the end of Q3, only 30 percent of the project was completed, well under the projected 43 percent baseline, according to a progress report. There was zero anchor site connection due to such issues as delays in getting franchising agreements, the report said. Although the county got permits to work in the city’s right-of-way, Oregon City officials claimed the county failed to reach a franchise agreement.
The Oregon City Commission passed an emergency ordinance Sept. 7 that redefined “telecommunications service” under city code to reflect changes in technology and help the city negotiate franchise agreements, City Recorder Nancy Ide said. The city issued a stop-work order to the county project six days later. The county said it expects to make up the construction lag once issues with the city are resolved and expects to be close to baseline in Q4. As with any grant, NTIA would need to approve any amendment that the county might put forward to alter its project. NTIA is aware of the issues and will closely monitor the project, a spokeswoman said. The county also noted that make-ready on utility poles, particularly in the city of Milwaukie, Ore., is slower than anticipated which kept the project from staying on schedule. There was still no agreement as of Wednesday and the project plans to simply skip Oregon City, a spokesman for the county said.
Equipment deployment at the One Community Project, which received a $44.8 million stimulus grant, is dependent on the construction permits for make-ready on utility poles, according to the latest progress report. Delays in responses to the project’s requests for “make ready” work by incumbent utility pole owners was cited by the project as a barrier to implementation. “We are experiencing ‘above average’ response times from the railroads and Ohio Department of Transportation,” the report said. Several incumbent utility pole owners are “extremely responsive,” but 80 percent of the project’s poles are owned by First Energy operating companies and it has been slow going, it said. First Energy couldn’t be reached Wednesday for comment. But the project has established communications with First Energy and responses are improving, the project said.
Meanwhile, based on initial review of a Corrective Action Plan, NTIA has lifted its suspension on a North Florida grant and allowed work to resume, a spokeswoman said. Federal regulators had suspended the $30 million project due to concerns regarding deployment progress (CD Oct 3 p6), project management and vendor oversight. The project remains under agency review, meaning NTIA must approve invoices before funds are released, the NTIA spokeswoman said. The agency will continue to monitor the grant closely, she said.