Letter from Executive Director
Jim Nimon
It's raining as I write, but October's been such a beautiful month here! I even had a milestone birthday and am pleased to be on the other side of it. Economic activity is up and the Growth Council is receiving a regular flow of developers and companies discussing their interest in locating in Sanford, Maine. As I mentioned to the City Council recently in my Quarterly Report, we do need to keep speaking well of our city and keep taking the important foundational steps that signal to outside investors that this is a place we care about and an economic future we believe in. Articles in this edition: alert micro-businesses to a new grant program that is available this month - we hope to receive applications from many eligible companies and expect we can positively assist their growth; showcase the community's support for a world class high school and technical center - the largest school construction project in Maine's history; describe ongoing efforts to be the first community in Maine offering a city-wide carrier-neutral dark fiber system with symmetrical gigabit speeds to businesses and residents; and highlight a private-sector led initiative to utilize Maine's top industry - tourism - and bring a premier theme park resort to Sanford Maine. We're setting the bar high. Thank you for your continued support.
Straw Poll Shows Strong Support for New Sanford High School & Technical Center
On September 30th, over 200 local residents gathered to learn details of the proposed design and budget for Sanford's new integrated high school and technical center. After the presentations and a question and answer session, a straw poll was taken asking whether attendees supported the project. The response was overwhelmingly in favor of the project.
Two weeks later, the State School Board approved the school design, which means the next major step for the project will be a special referendum vote scheduled for January 13th. There will be various informational sessions and opportunities for public input ahead of the vote which we will keep you informed of. Meanwhile, if you missed the September 30th meeting, you can view the
slides of the presentation here, view a
video of the entire event here, or read the
article from the Sanford News.
Residents can request absentee ballots for the January 13th, 2015 Special Referendum Election from the City Clerks office by telephone at 207-324-9125 or by written request to: City Clerk, 919 Main Street, Sanford, ME 04073. Questions about absentee voting or registering to vote may be directed to the City Clerk’s office staff at the phone number above.
Sanford Broadband Update
The following summary information and Growth Council recommendation were provided to the City Council at a public workshop a short time ago. There was consensus among Councilors that the Growth Council should continue to maintain broadband implementation as a top priority for the community. Since that time, we have met with industry experts and have secured a copy of the RFP that South Portland used this summer to hire GWI of Biddeford to construct four miles of dark fiber to connect city government as the initial fiber anchor there. Rockport had earlier hired GWI to construct a one mile stretch. Sanford's goal is use a competitive bid process to hire the best private sector company to build out and operate a city-wide high-speed fiber network that links five community anchor institutions - city, schools, hospital, mill yard and industrial parks - with the Three Ring Binder, and that provides affordable fiber access to all companies and residents.
Background: The Growth Council commissioned a study at the beginning of 2014 asking the Tilson Company of Portland to prepare a Broadband Plan for the City of Sanford. The plan was recently completed and the consultants concluded that “this project has the potential to provide impressive public economic benefits, including adding between $47 and $192 million to the Sanford-Springvale region’s economic output over the next ten years.”
A quick reminder of how powerful Broadband deployment can be:
- Standard Internet with speed of 756 kilo-bits per second can download a low resolution photo in about three seconds
- Broadband operating at speed of 10 gigabits per second can download a feature Hollywood film in half a second.
Initially we were concerned that Sanford having been left out of the construction of the 11,000 mile statewide Three Ring Binder project was falling behind other communities that had open access to fiber optics and speeds of 10 gigabits per second. Fiber optic communication is a method of transmitting information from one place to another by sending pulses of light through an optical fiber.
Tilson Company Assignment:
- Perform an inventory of telecom assets and needs in the City.
- Design a fiber optic network that connects the identified facilities.
- Provide capital cost estimates for the design.
- Provide an operating cost estimate for the network.
- Value the potential economic benefits of broadband adoption to the City of Sanford.
- Provide a business model recommendation.
The key findings of the report are as follows:
(1) The asset inventory revealed some private fiber assets in the city. Oxford Networks owns an ADSS fiber that comes into Sanford. FairPoint and Metrocast also have fiber in Sanford to back-haul their copper distribution facilities;
(2) SREGC requested three design options that provided differing levels of service: Good: $362,000, Better: $546,000, Best: $961,000 (excluding back-haul service, the other annual operating costs of the network are equal to approximately five percent of the total capital costs in each scenario);
(3) Four potential business models were identified for network operation; option four is the best fit for the City’s requirements: the city hires a private entity to build and operate the network; and
(4) This project has the potential to provide impressive public economic benefits: with the potential to add between $47 and $192 million to the Sanford-Springvale region’s economic output over the next 10 years.
"Sanford needs broadband to catch up to what Tilson implies is possible, and where broadband is deployed, plus its quality and price, will be the key to doing that. Their "Best" option is the one to shoot for if economic development is the goal." - Charlie Colgan, respected economist and faculty member at the University of Southern Maine's Muskie School of Public Service.
Local-Driven: market forces are not driving the deployment of world leading data networks; it must be driven from within communities. There are numerous case studies that illustrate the transformative impact of broadband deployment. Experts at a recent broadband conference concluded: “If a community does not have broadband deployed within 5 years it will be dead in the water.”
Growth Council Recommendation & Actions: recommend business model #4, where the City of Sanfor hires a private entity to build and lease back/operate the “Best” network. This keeps network under City control as Open Access Network allowing for competition to create market saturation in commercial and residential customers. Continue pursuit of leverage funding options: Federal Commerce Department (EDA); Maine Schools and Libraries Network; Homeland Security (police & fire); Private Businesses for upfront support and future reduced costs of access.
Next Steps:
- RFP for Construction & Operations
- Identify Actual Construction Costs
- Solidify Leveraged Funding
- Consider Bonding (if necessary for ROI)
- Path of Review & Approval towards construction
- Operations, Net Revenue to Support Bond
Calling All Photographers: Do You Have Photos You'd Like to Share?
We are always looking for interesting photos of Sanford and Springvale. If you have any shots you would like to share, please contact us at lkricketts@sanfordmaine.org or 207-608-4176. We will give credit for any photos we use.
Thanks to local resident Mitch Michaud for this beautiful photo he took last autumn in Springvale, Maine.
