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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