Estes Park EDC Meeting to Discuss Fast, Affordable Broadband for the Estes Valley
The Estes Park Economic Development Corporation (Estes Park EDC) invites you to attend a public meeting on Monday, March 5, 2018, to learn about the future of nationally competitive, fast, affordable, reliable broadband services in Estes Park. The meeting will be held from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm in the Town Hall Board Room, 170 MacGregor Avenue.
“Estes Park EDC supports the Town of Estes Park implementing a build-to-demand, phased approach for building a fiber optic network that can support robust broadband services, as well as enhanced communication services and allow the Town to implement electric power smart grid technologies” said Jon Nicholas, President/CEO of Estes Park EDC.
The Town of Estes Park has researched and investigated the opportunities and challenges of offering broadband services in the existing Light & Power service area. The Town received a grant of nearly $1.4 million from the Colorado Department of Local Affairs to fund the engineering work for a detailed plan to build a fiber optic broadband communications network in the Town’s Light & Power service area. The engineering work developed a shovel-ready engineering plan and cost estimate to provide one gigabit broadband service capacity for the Estes Park Light and Power service area, which includes the Estes Valley and extends from Glen Haven to Allenspark.
Three speakers will present at the meeting. David Batey is the Chair of the Estes Park EDC Competitive Broadband Committee, and organized the effort that led to a 92 percent local vote in favor of restoring the Town’s right to directly or indirectly provide all telecommunications services including broadband within the Light and Power service area. He will provide a brief summary of the history of the Estes Valley broadband initiative.
Mike Abbiatti is also a member of the Broadband Committee, and will discuss the importance of high-speed broadband to the community and its residents. Abbiatti is the Executive Director of WCET (the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies) and Vice President for Educational Technologies of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) which includes 16 Western States. Abbiatti assumed the WCET leadership position in January 2015. Among other honors, Abbiatti has been recognized by the Computerworld-Smithsonian Awards Program as a Laureate signifying leadership in the design, deployment, and utilization of Information Technology for the benefit of Louisiana's citizens.
Neil Shaw is a principal with Uptown Services, the firm hired by the Town of Estes Park to assist in business planning for broadband. Shaw will discuss potential business models for providing improved broadband services, and present an overview of the financial pro formas prepared for the Town. Shaw has 27 years of experience in advanced technology development and implementation. He has an extensive understanding of various broadband network infrastructure alternatives and the financial dynamics that are critical to making decisions in this industry. Shaw is a founder of Uptown Services and was responsible for forming the municipal broadband practice area in 1998. Shaw has a BS in Electrical Engineering from Iowa State University and an MBA from the University of Colorado.
A Town representative will be present to respond to questions.
- Public Meeting, Estes Park Broadband
- March 5, 2018
- 6:30 – 8:00pm
- Estes Park Town Hall Board Room
- 170 MacGregor Ave, Estes Park, CO 80517
For more information on the importance of high-speed, affordable and reliable broadband, please visit www.estesparkedc.com/estes-park-broadband/. For more information from the Town of Estes Park, visit the project page at www.estes.org/broadband.