Supervisors back big broadband expansion plan
▶ County may contribute $5.9 million as part of regional project ▶ Akre family pledges $3.5 million
The Rappahannock County Board of Supervisors and Broadband Authority voted to continue forward into phase 2 of their agreement with All Points Broadband that could greatly expand internet service in the county.
The bodies (made up of the same people) could not reach a decision at their meeting on Sept. 1, and held a continuation of the meeting on Tuesday.
Hampton Supervisor Keir Whitson, Stonewall-Hawthorne Supervisor Chris Parrish, and Wakefield Supervisor Debbie Donehey voted in favor of moving forward with the agreement, Jackson Supervisor Ron Frazier voted against the agreement and Piedmont Supervisor Christine Smith abstained.
All Points is estimating the project to cost $19.5
million, and All Points proposed two different routes the county can take with a broadband project — a regional approach and a county- specific approach.
The bodies agreed on a regional approach after county resident Chuck Akre pledged $3.5 million to the project to help ease the county’s cost burden. Akre is the owner of Eldon Farms and the proposed Rush River Commons development in Washington, which is scheduled for a public hearing on Sept. 13.
“My family is hereby offering to guarantee $3.5 million towards the complete rollout of broadband to all unserved residents of the county who wishes to be ‘wired,’” Akre wrote in his letter to Donehey, the chairperson of the Board of Supervisors.
The bodies heard from All Points CEO Jimmy Carr on Sept. 1 ahead of the deadline to apply for a grant through the Virginia Telecommunications Initiative (VATI) that could provide substantial funds for expanding internet access. All Points is proposing a universal fiber plan for the county’s unserved areas.
In the regional approach, All Points would secure $6.5 million of the total project cost, and VATI would provide $6.9 million if the county’s application is approved. The county would have to contribute $5.9 million, about a third of the total project cost, and would be eligible for funds through the federal pandemic relief dollars.
Smith said that she “doesn’t mind moving onto phase 2” of the project, but said that before moving onto phase 3 — when the board is then locked into the contract — the bodies should discuss other options for broadband, like expanding Starlink, a satellite- delivered internet service developed by Elon Musk.
“My position is that we would probably be better served to forge something with Starlink now and go in it alone instead of waiting for this regional approach where we're going to come in dead last as always,” Smith said.
Board members also expressed concern about what this cost will mean for taxpayers in the county. Lonnie Hamilton, a planner with the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development’s Office of Broadband, said that it could be possible to only tax the residents who will be receiving internet services under All Points.
More than a dozen community members spoke during the public hearing portion. While almost everyone agreed that the county needs to address its broadband issues, there was a mixed bag of opinions for how it should be done.
Bill Fletcher, a long-time resident of Rappahannock, said that before the county commits to spending money on the project, they should first consider how many people in those unserved homes actually want better internet.
“I don't know how this community as a whole would feel about this $6 million project, however it’s funded,”
Fletcher said. “Yeah, you get grant money. But we've got more important issues I think this county is facing right now.”
Judy Hope, 80, said that she supports moving forward with All Points because she wants to see the county retain more young people and families, and said the county will die without them.
“So this is a great chance for us to save the county with the kind of vision that decades and centuries ago the Fletcher's and others had,” Hope said. “This is a chance to maintain the beauty of this county and the youth of this county.”
Donehey and Parrish both said that this agreement with All Points to bring universal broadband to the county is a “once in a lifetime” opportunity.
“We've been given many years to look into the problem, and we're all under the agreement that there is a problem,” said Donehey. “And I think when we vote today, it's really for the safety of the citizens, the education of our students.”
VATI grants can cover up to 80 percent of a project’s cost. However, Carr said in order to remain competitive, the requested amount of money should be under 50 percent. The deadline to apply for funding is Sept. 14.
“The less state money you ask for, the more likely you are to get the grant,” Carr said at the Sept. 1 meeting.
He said that the competition for VATI grants this year is bigger than ever before since the state increased the fund from $50 million to $700 million.
“Twenty [percent] is deep for Rappahannock County. That is what people don't seem to understand,” said Smith of the county’s financial contribution to the project at the Sept. 1 meeting.
The project proposed by All Points includes about 270 miles of fiber infrastructure to extend to all remaining unserved areas in the county. In order to bring fiber-optic technology to the entire county, All Points would also partner with Rappahannock Electric Cooperative.
In a 2020 survey of Rappahannock County Public School families, nearly 70 percent of respondents reported having either unreliable internet access or no access at all. Broadband was a persistent issue when students were required to do virtual learning, sometimes sitting in parked cars for internet access.
VATI awards are announced in December, and the county and All Points would have 90 days after the grant award to enter into an agreement reflecting their application and to accept the award. The county’s financial contribution to the project could be phased over 36 months.
Carr said the project would be substantially completed within 24 months of the VATI grant award and completion of REC routes.
WHO IN THE COUNTY WOULD BE SERVED?
All Points is proposing to bring universal broadband to 100 percent of the unserved homes in the county and identified 2,000 locations. An “unserved” home would be any home that is not covered by a cable service.
Carr said that if you live in an area that is not covered by the project plan but your home is still unserved, you can apply for a special construction charge.
For the first 12 months, customers could expect a nearly $200 installation fee for a 500-foot underground service drop.
A basic residential service offering of 50x50 megabit fiber would be a fixed cost of $59.99 per month. He said a 50 megabit plan would allow a home to stream 10 Netflix videos in HD with no buffering.
Customers could upgrade their plans for additional costs that are not fixed.
“We're talking about the 21st century equivalent of electrifying the countryside, we're doing that with a new utility,” Carr said. “We recommend doing it the right way and doing it once. And we think that this is a unique opportunity that has come together this year with this significant level of investment.”
CONTEXT: In a 2020 survey of Rappahannock County Public Schools families, nearly 70 percent of respondents reported having either unreliable internet access or no access at all.