Minutes 04-10-2014 - Laserfiche WebLink

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east side. He said this area is a prime railroad economic development zone with a lot of industrial potential. Chair Jacobs noted that there was an article stating that ATT was bringing high speed wireless to the area. He asked if Orange County is in the loop with these discussions. Craig Benedict said we are in the loop for wireless, but not wired. He said ATT is adding additional towers or making connections on existing towers. He said ATT's plan is to provide better wireless and data coverage in rural areas using towers. He said they are also considering using fiber between towers to make better connectivity. He said there is no plan for a network in the primarily urban area. He said some of the seed money is available for anyone who would like to partner with the County to get into the rural areas. Chair Jacobs said he is thinking of the economic development districts. Michael Talbert said this is an initiative that Chapel Hill has taken on. He said the town is part of consortium of 6 or 7 towns and cities that went out and requested proposals. He said this could potentially be in competition with potential Google infrastructure that will come later. He said ATT wants to get into this area. He said this is primarily targeting high density areas, but there may be some benefit and the possibility of connecting to it if it comes right up I-40. Chair Jacobs said even if it was the Hillsborough EDD it would still be in an economic development district, and it would join up the UNC Hospitals and Carolina North to Hillsborough. Michael Talbert said the County was not part of the original discussions, but they may be able to piggy back this. Craig Benedict said a side benefit of a rural grant would be to pull redundant connections from near those economic development zones. He said one of these is being considered in the Efland area, because there is something available near I-85. Chair Jacobs said this was a big part of the discussion of the Efland Mebane small area planning group. He said he wants to make sure the County can get to the table for these opportunities that are opening up. Michael Talbert said this is possible, but only in the areas where it works and not in the rural areas. Commissioner porosin asked if all County owned buildings could provide free Wi-Fi like the towns do. Jim Northup said this can be done; it is just a matter of money. He said the infrastructure will still have to be paid for in the rural areas where there is no internet service. He said all of the County buildings served by the County network proper have public Wi-Fi service. He said the penetration for this is only a couple of houses away. He said staff can come up with the numbers to put broadcast equipment on this. Commissioner McKee said he would like to see those numbers. Jim Northup asked what kind of wireless the Board is talking about. He said he is talking about wireless access in public areas like this meeting room that does extend into the parking lot. He said penetration in neighborhoods is different. Craig Benedict said it would be good to have a hot spot in the Cedar Grove parking lot. Jim Northup said staff is already working with elections on wireless for curbside voting, so this would be easy enough. Commissioner porosin said he would like to figure out how to get the biggest boost. He said students in the County I-pad program cannot use the I-pads at home. He said if there is a place near the students' house to provide free Wi-Fi, this would be the goal. He wants to think about ways to bridge the digital-divide. He said this availability could be advertised. Jim Northup said there are already people using the County wireless, but this could be advertised better.