TITLE: Title
Update on Google Fiber and Consideration of Google Network Hut Lease Agreement Form
PURPOSE: The purpose of this item is to provide the Board of Aldermen with a status update on Google Fiber and to receive Board approval for a Google Network Hut Lease Agreement form.
body
DEPARTMENT: MO-IT
CONTACT INFORMATION: Andy Vogel, 919-918-7305
INFORMATION: Google is exploring building additional high speed networks, referred to as Google Fiber, in 34 municipalities around North America. The Town of Carrboro is part of the Raleigh-Durham Google designated region that includes Carrboro, Chapel Hill, Raleigh, Durham, Cary, Garner and Morrisville. In this initial stage, the Town of Carrboro is being asked to identify and supply information about existing Town owned infrastructure and provide information that would make construction speedy and predictable for Google. This information gathering process followed a Google Checklist and began on February 24 and ended on May 1, 2014. Information gathered included GIS Data specific to the Town, Town permitting procedures, Town encroachment procedures and other related policies and Town Code. Google will continue to gather information from the Town as needed until the end of 2014. Google will then evaluate this information and complete a detailed study by the end of 2014. After this study has been completed, Google plans to announce which cities/towns will receive the next round of Google Fiber.
Google has also requested that the Board of Aldermen approve a Google Network Hut Lease Agreement Form in advance of a potential Google Fiber network build out to make construction as speedy and predictable as possible. A Google Network Hut is a major fiber optic cable aggregation/termination point for the Google Fiber network in a community. Google would propose/identify Town owned sites for a network hut location. A single network hut can serve a five mile radius and up to 20,000 households. It is likely that the Town of Carrboro would be considered for one or perhaps none of these hut sites. The Network Hut Lease Agreement Form has been included as Attachment A.
FISCAL & STAFF IMPACT: N/A
RECOMMENDATION:r Staff recommend that the Board receive the Google Fiber status update and adopt the resolution in ATTACHMENT B.