HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-11-02; Agreement with Netly Fiber Holdings, LLC (Districts- All); Rocha, LauraTo the members of the:
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Council Memorandum
November 2, 2023
To:
From:
Via:
Re:
Honorable Mayor Blackburn and Members of the City Council
Laura Rocha, Deputy City Manager, Administrative Services
Maria Callander, Information Technologt Director
Geoff Patnoe, Assistant City Manager &_
Agreement with Netly Fiber Holdings, LLC (Districts -All )
{city of
Carlsbad
Memo ID# 2023111
This memorandum provides information oh a proposed agreement between Netly Fiber
Holdings, LLC (Netly), and the city that would grant Netly access to existing city-owned
underground conduit on Rancho Santa Fe Road in exchange for fiber-optic cable usage at no cost.
Netly is owned and managed by Ubiquity Management, LLC (Ubiquity), which is the name most
city staff and City Council are familiar with.
Background
The City Council approved a pilot project to install a new traffic management system in 2010, as
part of the Capital Improvement Program budget for that fiscal year. Such a system has
interconnected traffic signals and can be centrally monitored and managed by staff.
While other cities used modern fiber-optic cable for these connections, Carlsbad chose back then
to use wireless communications instead and later installed copper wiring in underground
conduits, or tubes.
This decision, made mostly due to concerns over the cost of fiber-optic cabling, has shown itself
to have been ill-advised:
• No plan was developed to consider the capacity of this network for the city's future needs
or for the eventual replacement of the network equipment.
• The project was largely outsourced to a vendor for design and implementation. As a
result, several opportunities were missed to leverage inter-departmental collaboration in
the development of the network.
• Although the outsourcing was meant in part to preclude the need for hiring city staff, the
quality of work was poor and costly relative to what current city staff are capable of
without outsourcing.
• The system would often be unavailable for days, and several traffic signals were not
connected to the network.
Administrative Services Branch
Information Technology Department
1635 Faraday Avenue I Carlsbad, CA 92008 I 442-339-2450 t
Council Memo -Agreement with Netly Fiber Holdings, LLC (Districts -All)
November 2, 2023
Page 2
• The consultant was highly integrated into the management of the system, so small tasks
and information requests would frequently result in additional charges to the city.
• Many of the technical goals of a modern traffic management system were unattainable
due to the limits on the network's capacity.
• Relying on copper-based cabling also significantly limits the technical capabilities of public
safety applications.
Additionally, the costs of installing the fiber-optic cable, a more effective and cost-efficient
solution over time, have now far exceeded what they would have been in 2010-2014, when most
of this network was being implemented.
Staff in the Information Technology and Transportation departments began observing the
deficiencies of this network and the infrastructure needed to improve the traffic management
system in 2018, after numerous leadership and staff changes.
In 2019, the City Council approved the implementation of the Carlsbad Digital Information
Network. The Internal Digital Information Network Action Plan called for three phases in the
deployment of this network. The second phase called for the extension of the network to be
used to provide more robust connectivity to the city's traffic signal system.
The first phase of the Digital Information Network was fully completed last year, and staff's
attention has been re-directed to the communication issues in the traffic network. Staff have
implemented several technical fixes to address the main cause of extended outages,
communications for isolated signals and network congestion.
Despite these efforts, there is still a need to replace the outdated copper cabling infrastructure
with high-speed and longer-lasting fiber-optic cable . This is primarily due to the needs to replace
aging network equipment with newer technology that won't operate with the legacy copper
connectivity, but also to enable greater control, data collection and monitoring capabilities.
Discussion
Information Technology staff analyzed plans to replace the underground copper cable that
interconnects city traffic signals and determined it could cost the city more than $3 million over
the next three years.
While investigating solutions to this problem, staff began discussions with Ubiquity, as they
install and lease access to fiber-optic cables for delivering high speed internet services to homes.
The initial thought was that it would likely be cheaper to lease access to Ubiquity's fiber-optic
infrastructure than it would be to install city-owned fiber-optic cabling. However, during these
discussions, it became apparent that underground conduit used by the city could help Ubiquity in
the deployment of its network.
Council Memo -Agreement with Netly Fiber Holdings, LLC (Districts -All)
November 2, 2023
Page 3
After discussions with Public Works, the City Attorney and the City Manager's Offices,
Information Technology staff began negotiating an agreement for an exchange of access to the
city's conduit for Ubiquity's fiber-optic cable along a segment of Rancho Santa Fe Road and,
ultimately, throughout Carlsbad. An agreement such as this with Ubiquity has the potential to
avoid many of the costs of replacing the outdated copper cabling currently in use.
This proposed agreement would give the city access to the fiber-optic cabling it needs to update
its traffic management system at no cost. It would benefit both parties mutually in areas where
the city owns existing conduit and Ubiquity has interest in extending its network in Carlsbad.
In addition to avoiding the estimated cost of $3 million to replace outdated cabling, there are
other benefits to this agreement, including:
• The cabling would be maintained by Ubiquity, not the city.
• It would reduce damage to streets and disruptions to traffic because existing
underground ~onduits would be used instead of cutting up streets to install new conduits.
• It would accelerate deployment of cutting-edge fiber-optic internet services to the
residents of Carlsbad.
The agreement covers an initial 10-year term and automatically renews for up to two additional
10-year periods. If Ubiquity ceases operations in Carlsbad, or decides to abandon its fiber-optic
cable lines, Ubiquity will be required to either remove the cable lines at no cost to the city or
transfer ownership of the lines to the city.
The initial agreement will include only one road segment, Rancho Santa Fe Road from San Elijo
Road to Olivenhain Road, which has 12 intersections with traffic signals and is in District 4, but
future amendments can be used to add other parts of the city.
Next Steps
Staff will make a presentation to the City Council on t his agreement by the end of the year and
will ask the City Council to authorize the City Manager to execute this agreement with Ubiquity
and to further allow the City Manager to authorize future amendments to that agreement as
needed.
It is important to note that this agreement and future amendments would only apply to areas of
the city where existing conduit is present and where Ubiquity has interest in deploying fiber-
optic cable. The city may still have a need to add fiber-optic cabling at cost in other parts of the
city. Staff are continuously evaluating the most creative and cost-effective solutions in these
instances while making sure to take into consideration long-term opportunities and value.
Council Memo -Agreement with Netly Fiber Holdings, LLC (Districts -All)
November 2, 2023
Page 4
cc : Scott Chadwick, City Manager
Cindie McMahon, City Attorney
Gina Herrera, Deputy City Attorney
Paz Gomez, Deputy City Manager, Public Works
Gary Barberio, Deputy City Manager, Community Services
Tom Frank, Transportation Director/City Engineer
Joe Stephenson, Assistant IT Director