Memorandum

City of Lawrence

City Manager’s Office

TO:	David L. Corliss, City Manager
FROM:	Diane Stoddard, Assistant City Manager
DATE:	June 6, 2013
CC:	Cynthia Wagner, Assistant City Manager
RE:	Broadband Technology Report

Background:

At its December 18, 2012 meeting, the City Commission directed to staff to proceed with hiring a consultant to assist the City with looking at the issue of broadband technology in the community, how Lawrence compares to other communities and what strategic things could the City do to help enhance broadband service in the community.

At the June 11, 2013 City Commission meeting, Joanne Hovis with CTC Technology & Energy will present the report “Enhancing Broadband in Lawrence: A Range of Strategic Options.” The report provides a picture of the current state of broadband services in Lawrence, how that compares to other communities, and various strategies that other cities have employed to help spur additional technology development in their communities. CTC Technology & Energy is also the firm that is currently working with the State of Kansas on its state broadband initiatives, so Joanne has a familiarity not only with national broadband issues, but a deep knowledge of conditions in Kansas.

During the process of evaluating broadband services in Lawrence, several stakeholder meetings were held- one with a group of “institutional” representatives from the City, Douglas County, USD 497, Haskell, KU and the hospital, and one with a group of “business” representatives who own or operate businesses in Lawrence that are dependent upon broadband services. There was an identified need to help enhance the broadband capabilities present in the community and to continue to work together to address some of these needs. As an example of partnership in this area, the City Commission recently authorized an agreement with the University of Kansas regarding a joint fiber project that will fill a major fiber conduit through Lawrence with 288 strands of fiber optic cable. The completion of this installation adds to the fiber backbone that has been installed by the City of Lawrence over the past several years. This fiber backbone includes fiber optic cables that are used for city service purposes (traffic signal coordination, city building connectivity, connectivity to Kansas University and Douglas County, communications, etc.), but also includes unused fiber (dark fiber). As the report points out, some communities have leveraged this type of fiber system to enhance broadband services by helping the private sector broadband companies with community access. The City of Lawrence has a current agreement with Community Wireless Communications, now Wicked Fiber, to utilize portions of the fiber backbone to support its wireless system in Lawrence, for example.

A few Possible Opportunities:

Staff believes that there are additional opportunities for the City, as set forth in the report. The City could consider a policy to install conduit in additional city right-of-ways concurrent with major street and/or utility projects. The conduit, or the “pipe” that holds the fiber optic cable underground, represents the largest expense with fiber optic installations and significant economies and efficiencies can be gained if these installations are done in conjunction with other projects.

Another project that staff has identified that would be important to complete is the project to complete the fiber gap that currently exists between 6^th & Wakarusa and 6^th & Iowa Streets. As indicated on the fiber map, completion of this leg would truly create a fiber ring around Lawrence that would enable redundancy in the event fiber were cut anywhere along the route. Staff estimates that the cost of this project may be around $300,000-$400,000, the cost of which could be possibly split between several institutions. There may also be other items set forth in the report, which the City Commission wishes to direct staff to pursue.

Action Requested:

Receive the report from CTC Technology & Energy and provide direction to staff, as appropriate.