[RTC List] Telecom & County Planning Commission Meeting Thursday1/17

[Arkley, Rob]

Dear Tina,
     I would love to have our folks at this.  This is a very important
element and your approach is great.  Please try to give us more notice
in the future.  I will have SN represented.
     Thanks for your input.
 
 
 
                                             vty,
 
 
 
                                             Rob   

  _____  

From: list-bounces at redwoodtech.org [mailto:list-bounces at redwoodtech.org]
On Behalf Of Tina Nerat
Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2008 4:34 PM
To: list at redwoodtech.org
Subject: [RTC List] Telecom & County Planning Commission Meeting
Thursday1/17
Importance: High



Hi all, 

Sorry for the short notice, but we need help at the Planning Commission
meeting tomorrow night, Thursday 1/17 at 6pm in Supervisor's chambers.
Up for consideration is Community Infrastructure & Services Element for
the General Plan Update. This Element includes a tiny bit about
Telecommunications (see below for history on this). Agenda is at
http://co.humboldt.ca.us/planning/commission/getagenda.asp?key=117200811
1023AM.

 

The material to be reviewed is at:

http://co.humboldt.ca.us/planning/gp/gpdemo/GPU-TOC-Demo3.htm#ch7. You
will see there's very little in there on telecommunications. It's almost
an afterthought. Several years ago, the County stated its intentions to
have a standalone Telecom Element, but it's not in here.

 

I believe that we need to advocate for a standalone Telecom Element. In
summary:

1) Encourage the County to have a standalone Element just as they
originally intended. It's watered down if there is telecom policy
sprinkled throughout the Circulation, Infrastructure, and Economic
Development Elements. Telecom policy should be in one place.

2) The County should be a model and provide leadership for other local
jurisdictions by having a Telecom Element, and it's an opportunity to be
the first in the state and a model for other counties.

3) Telecom should be given the attention it deserves as critical
infrastructure. Half of our population has no access to broadband and
look at the havoc wreaked when the fiber has been down.

4) County should rewrite the Wireless Transmission Facility Ordinance -
in its current form, it is a deterrent to broadband implementation.

 

If you believe, like I do, that telecom is critical infrastructure for
our region, please come to voice your views or to show support if you
don't speak. I will be speaking for sure. This is not intended to be an
adversarial event - we just need to work in a proactive way to get
Telecom as a standalone element in the General Plan Update. If I'm the
only person there, it doesn't have the same impact. Bodies in the room
showing support matter even if you don't speak. Thanks for the help and
sorry for the short notice - up until this morning I thought we had it
all worked out with the County. Tina

 

---

History:

In 2004, I was contracted by the County to do a telecom assessment of
the County. One of the deliverables was a proposed Telecom Element for
the General Plan Update. Another deliverable was an assessment of the
proposed Wireless Transmission Facility Ordinance. See proposed plan and
background at http://www.neratech.net/docs/final_report.pdf starting on
page 66. My comments on the ordinance are on page 78. This Element would
have made Humboldt the first in the state to have a Telecom Element.

 

Feedback in 2004-2005 from the County on the proposed Telecom Element
was favorable and it seemed to be generally understood that some version
of it would be included in the General Plan Update as a standalone
Element. County personnel have talked as if it was a done deal. And in
fact, this proposed Telecom Element has been discussed by the Governor's
Broadband Task Force members and word has spread around the state that
"Humboldt has a model you should look at". I have gotten calls asking
for the link to my report. 

 

So..... when I saw the content of the proposed element last week, I
scheduled a meeting with the Planning Department. They agreed that
omission of Telecommunications policy was an oversight, and we've been
in very positive discussions over the last week to correct the
oversight. However, the current architecture of the General Plan Update
requires Board of Supervisors approval to add a standalone Telecom
Element. If there isn't a standalone Element, telecom policy will be
scattered around in Circulation, Land Use, and Economic Development
Elements. The Planning Department can't change the structure without us
advocating to the Commission and Board of Supervisors. 
  
  
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