Estes Park officials hear about fiber optics, water lease

While the discussion of the fiber optics prospects resulted in general agreement on the benefits to the town, the water leasing concept was more controversial for several of the trustees, because it involves leasing the non-Estes Park water to oil and gas companies for the purpose of fracking. Trustees Ron Norris, Wendy Koenig and Mark Elrod raised concerns over liability and safety, while trustee Eric Blackhurst insisted the issue was one of economics only -- the leasing of water and not fracking or how it is regulated.

Both the fiber optics and the water leasing issues will come before the town board at their May 22 meeting. Public comment will be taken then, but there will be no specific public hearing. The PRPA board, on which Estes Park mayor Bill Pinkham has a seat, is expected to make a decision on the issues at the end of the month, and Pinkham and utilities director Reuben Bergsten were seeking information and direction from the trustees.

The PRPA is a non-profit organization owned by Estes Park, Fort Collins, Longmont and Loveland. In addition to electric services, PRPA owns a large fiber network in these cities.

Fiber optics

Norris called the fiber optics opportunity one that could be a major feature in bringing new, non-polluting, Internet companies to town and said it is very exciting.

Utilities superintendent Alan Fraundorf said it is important for the town board to have a basic understanding of the fundamental concepts of fiber optics around town. Several years ago, the PRPA and the town installed a fiber optic network ring around Estes Park and lines down Highway 34 to Loveland. There are several unused strands of the ring, and those may be available for the town to lease to new customers. Fraundorf said the "purpose of the study session (was) to provide education and a shared understanding of the network as it relates to future business development in Estes Park."

"Fibers might be leased out to companies seeing an opportunity in Estes Park," he said.

There is no major technological limit to companies here, he added, and said it's possible we could be competitive with other local markets. It would be possible, he said, for the YMCA of the Rockies to hook onto a lateral, for instance. A three-way arrangement, with the town, the PRPA and a company wishing service might be possible down the line, he added.

A fiber ring is a geographical area in which there is a ring of fiber. If the ring is cut, the signal can go back around the other direction, and the signal remains good. A lateral is a fiber cable that extends off a ring; if that is cut, however, the service for that line stops.

There are 72 strands of fiber in the ring around Estes Park, Fraundorf explained, with about half of those strands in use, for such things as providing Internet communications and network data to the Estes Park community buildings, school district and water treatment plant. There is also a pair of strands used by the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA), whose lines the PRPA fiber optics run along. WAPA's plans for rebuilding the transmission lines along Highway 36 and Lake Estes may affect fiber optics, although unless a lateral line is severed, Internet communication should still remain intact, Fraundorf said.

During a lightning and snowstorm several years ago, he said, there was a severed cable. WAPA, who owns the right-of-way and is responsible for maintenance, restored service, with the help of the PRPA, within two days.

Fraundorf said that PRPA hangs the wire off the WAPA towers and uses their facility to get fiber from Loveland to Estes Park. WAPA does the maintenance. That arrangement will continue, he said.

Because of the fiber interest, he said PRPA is following the WAPA rebuild closely. WAPA is currently in the process of taking public comments for an environmental impact statement.

"We're interested in how it's going to go," he said.

Until new fiber is installed, there will be minimal downtime or service interruptions. The existing fiber will need to be replaced when WAPA builds a new facility, however, and PRPA will continue to participate in discussions with WAPA, he said.

As to Internet speed, it is limited only by equipment on both ends. It is technology-driven and also affected by the distance between switches, he said. Fort Collins to Longmont fiber is doing 10-gigagbits (a gigabit is a unit equal to 1 billion bits of data) and Fraundorf said he's heard of strands capable of going up to 40 gigabits on a pair.

Trustees wanted to know what they need to understand about fiber optics, to get the most benefits and value for their constituents. It's a matter of marketing and sharing the information, to bring economic development here, PRPA representatives said.

"It's an excellent opportunity to consider fiber, along with any other aspects of a development agreement," representatives said. "You can make an attractive business case. Opportunity is knocking."