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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 31, 2018)
News Blue Mountain Eagle Wednesday, October 31, 2018 A3 Details emerging on broadband network plans By Richard Hanners Blue Mountain Eagle More details about how a broadband network will be established in Grant County are becoming known after the Grant County Digital Network Coalition’s board of directors have held three meetings since the organization was formed. The city of John Day re- ceived a $1.8 million appro- priation from the state in 2017 to begin improving broadband internet access in Grant County and applied this year for a $2.9 million federal Community Connect grant that required a 15 percent match. Phased construction The coalition’s plan is to leverage a portion of the $1.8 million appropriation to match the federal grant and build the new broadband network in phases, beginning with a fiber backbone from Canyon City south to Sene- ca, with laterals to homes and businesses along Highway 395 and fiber-to-home con- nections in Seneca. The plan calls for the co- alition, which includes John Day, Grant County and Sen- eca, to partner with Oregon Telephone Corp. to install fi- ber-to-home connections and handle sales and maintenance for customers. Board member and coun- cilor Brandon Smith told the John Day City Council Oct. 23 that the U.S. Department of Agriculture had award- ed the Community Connect grants but not yet notified the coalition of the results. At a meeting in September, the coalition board considered options for locating the broad- band network’s main hub or point-of-presence. Consulting engineers noted that the facil- ity must be centrally located, secure, readily accessible for maintenance and meet seis- mic standards. The engineers recom- mended using the server room in the John Day Fire Hall, which has a backup generator and is just feet away from the new Grant County 911 dis- patch center. The John Day Rural Fire Protection District board on Sept. 11 proposed to lease space and equipment in the server room to the coali- tion for 10 years for $30,000. Network extensions The board is currently looking at running two fiber cable extensions separate from the trunk cable from Canyon City to Seneca. An aerial fiber cable run from the fire hall to the Grant County Education Service District offices and Grant Union Ju- nior-Senior High School is es- timated to cost about $47,000, including engineering, con- struction and contingency. A second aerial cable esti- mated to cost $64,000 would run up North Canyon Boule- vard in John Day and connect the fire hall to the CenturyLink microwave facility at First Street. The cable would con- tinue north to the Grant Coun- ty Fairgrounds, east to the Grant County Transportation District building on Dayton Street and further east to the John Day City Hall and police department on Highway 26. The board considered run- ning a 96-fiber cable to the CenturyLink facility to pro- vide redundancy to the overall network. When completed, the fire hall would be connected to about 10 critical community facilities, including the Grant County Senior Center, the De- partment of Motor Vehicles and the John Day Post Office. Smith told the council run- ning the cables underground was cost prohibitive so they will be strung on power poles. John Day City Manager Nick Green said construction of these two extensions would not start until after the coali- tion received word about the federal grant. Future laterals Once construction is com- pleted on the trunk line south to Seneca, laterals will be run to other critical community fa- cilities in Canyon City, includ- ing the county courthouse, sheriff’s office and Humbolt Elementary School, Green said. At an earlier meeting, the board estimated the cost of running an aerial fiber cable from the fire hall to Grant County Regional Airport at about $94,000. There is no fi- ber cable run to the airport at this time. Green praised the work of Commstructure, which is con- ducting field studies for the cable runs across John Day. He noted growing interest in the project and said he expect- ed competitive bids. The board approved a $6,500 bid by Municode to design, develop and imple- ment a website for the coali- tion. Hosting, maintenance and support will cost $2,500 per year. The board also filled two at-large positions by appoint- ing Denise Porter, a teacher and city councilor in Long Creek, and Nathan McFarland, a computer programmer and member of the Grant Coun- ty Economic Development Board who lives between John Day and Prairie City. Josh Walker of Seneca is the chairman of the five-mem- ber board, and Dan Becker of Prairie City is the county rep- resentative and co-chairman. John Day trail proposal ranked No. 1 East-side residents concerned about speeders By Richard Hanners Blue Mountain Eagle An Oregon Parks and Rec- reation Department advisory committee ranked the John Day Innovation Trail System Phase 1 as the No. 1 non-mo- torized use proposal for this year’s Recreational Trails Program grant funding. Following a presentation by John Day and other appli- cants, the committee recom- mended awarding $191,300 for the trail system, which will run along the John Day River to the future Innova- tion Gateway project. The project must under- go further review by several state agencies and the Feder- al Highway Administration before the federal funding will become available. City Manager Nick Green told the city council Oct. 23 that he expects to see the funding sometime in March. In other city council news: • City staff surprised Green by awarding him with a customized belt buckle in recognition of his dedicated service. Mayor Ron Lund- bom explained that city staff intended to recognize the entire Green family because of all the time Green spent working for the city. Green said it was the best gift he’s ever received in his profes- sional career. • Lundbom said residents along Highway 26 east of John Day had expressed con- cerns about speeding traffic. He said the residents wanted a flashing radar speed sign in- stalled as a way to slow down vehicles. Police Chief Mike Durr acknowledged that the area has always experienced speeders, and his officers work that area and issue ci- tations. Most of the speeders are outside the city limits, he said. Green noted that a so- lar-powered radar sign could cost $12,000 and the Oregon Department of Transportation was OK with installing the sign at city expense. Lundbom said he recently received a mail- er promoting two radar signs for $6,000. Green said the signs re- quire little maintenance and some signs record speeding data that could be download- ed. He said he would look more into costs and suggest- ed the contingency street fund could be used to pay for a sign. • Green reported on an Oct. 16 meeting with faculty and administration at Oregon State University. This was city staff’s second meeting with OSU to discuss poten- tial collaboration and options for the city’s commercial greenhouse if it expanded by two bays. In one scenario, the city would provide the land, wa- ter, infrastructure and financ- ing, OSU would provide research support through faculty and students and a re- gional industry partner would purchase products. Expanding the green- house by two 2,000-square- foot bays could cost about $180,000. The city would need to earn about $2,000 per month to pay for that invest- ment. Green said discussion included growing hydroponic The Eagle/ Richard Hanners John Day City Manager Nick Green explains commercial options for the city’s greenhouse facility during the city council’s Oct. 23 meeting while Mayor Ron Lundbom listens. hops — which would provide a year-round harvest for what is typically a seasonal prod- uct. An alternative is straw- berries, he said. In any case, the city doesn’t have the reserves to go it alone, Green said. He presented the council with a decision-making framework for evaluating investment options for the commercial greenhouse that includes an exit strategy. • The John Day Planning Commission approved four amendments to the city’s land-use district map Oct. 23 that included both rezoning and annexations. The first two dealt with rezoning only and do not need city coun- cil approval. The other two involve annexations and are scheduled to go to the city council Nov. 13. The city requested re- zoning one city-owned lot and four lots owned by the Oregon Parks and Recre- ation Department, including Gleason Pool and property surrounding the Kam Wah Chung State Heritage Site, from residential limited and general commercial to park reserve. The state is expected to acquire the city property as part of a plan to build an im- proved state park site. Rezon- ing also will allow the state to have a single RV site for use by a park host. The city also requested that the 5-acre property along the John Day River at the north end of Canton Street be rezoned from residential limited to park reserve. Pre- liminary plans called for par- tially developing the site with the name Hill Family Park. Because of floodplain and traffic concerns, the site will not be used for a new public pool, Green said. The city also requested the annexation of the Mid County Cemetery and a near- by city-owned lot south of Valley View Drive, along with rezoning those lots and two other city-owned lots in the Davis Creek area to park reserve. The city acquired the land from the Hill family this year. Annexation must take place before rezoning, Green said. The three city-owned lots include terrain that is too steep for development and will be used for a new trail system, he said. The county will continue to maintain the cemetery. The city also requested the annexation of the former Oregon Pine mill site along with portions of nearby land owned by Kenneth Mills and Iron Triangle that were out- side the city limits. The city also requested that the por- tion of the mill site south of the John Day River and the annexed Mills land be re- zoned general commercial. • The council will discuss options for a new public pool at their next meeting on Nov. 13. 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