PITTSBORO — Lack of adequate rural broadband in Chatham County has long hindered residents’ access to the internet. There may, however, be some resolution on the horizon.
At Monday’s Chatham County Board of Commissioners meeting at the Agriculture & Conference Center in Pittsboro, commissioners approved $350,000 of local funding to go toward the Growing Rural Economies with Access to Technology (GREAT) Grant. The funding was approved in a 3-1 vote with Commissioner Franklin Gomez Flores dissenting. Commissioner David Delaney was absent from the meeting.
The state grant program through the N.C. Dept. of Information Technology (NCDIT), provided $206 million in state funding toward improving broadband access across the state. The money aims to bring high-speed internet to rural counties in North Carolina, including Chatham. Providers in the county are eligible for up to $8 million in funding per fulfilled application through the GREAT grant.
In Chatham County, the winning bidder, Brightspeed, was awarded $4 million and will connect 1,914 homes. While the funding was initially awarded by Gov. Roy Cooper in August, working out the logistics of which homes would be connected and the exact cost of the local match required caused the delay in approval.
Brightspeed will provide two-gigabyte download and upload speeds using two-way fiber-optic internet.
The grant requires a total of $1.6 million in matching cost. The county will pay $350,000 of that cost; the rest will be paid by Brightspeed. Final maps of the awarded locations show most of the homes connected using GREAT Grant funding are in the Pittsboro area.
Steve Brewer, director state government affairs at Brightspeed, presented to the board before approval Monday. He said most of the connections through the GREAT program had to be built from “population hubs,” meaning Pittsboro and Siler City in Chatham County.
In Brightspeed’s initial grant application, it proposed connecting more than 5,000 Chatham homes. During NCDIT’s approval process, that was reduced to 1,900 homes. Brewer said, however, just because homes were not approved for connection through GREAT Grant, Brightspeed still has other plans to partner with the county.
“Using this grant funding we’re going to build from these wire centers,” Brewer told the board. “And from those centers we can pick up, and connect, a lot of those units that didn’t get grant approval.”
In the two-year timeline of the GREAT Grant, Brewer said the company has plans to connect a total of 8,149 locations throughout the county. The figure, however, may be an overestimate because of potential overlap between proposals and approved connections, he added. Those planned connection locations would have the same download speeds (four gigabytes) as the approved locations.
In addition to the state grant, Brewer shared that Brightspeed has also applied for the federal Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which provides a discount of up to $30 per month toward internet service for eligible households. Brightspeed said it will provide an additional $30 off per month for those households, meaning approved locations could connect for a low cost or for free.
“This is going to serve significant parts of the community who did not see the opportunity before,” Karen Howard, chairperson of the Chatham Board of Commissioners, said following the approval of local funding Monday. “We look forward to making Brightspeed a true partner in our connectivity efforts because we know this continues to be an issue for folks across Chatham.”
Once the county, NCDIT and Brightspeed sign a contract, the GREAT Grant provides a two-year timeline for the completion of the connectivity efforts. Brewer said, however, Brightspeed plans to build its fiber network within a year, and locations will be connected as the network is built.
• The board heard an informational presentation from county planning staff about joining the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO). Chatham is currently in two other metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs): Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro MPO (DCHC MPO) and the Triangle Area Rural Planning Organization (TARPO). An MPO is a regional planning network for transportation connectivity.
Brandon Dawson, Chatham County conservation and transportation planner, told commissioners joining a third MPO would help the county plan for future transit, pedestrian and roadway projects. He said this may become especially necessary as the county grows due to economic opportunities in Moncure and Siler City.
Dawson said CAMPO is also a larger MPO than the other two Chatham County is currently a member of, meaning there may be access to more funding for desired transportation projects. No action was taken on this item.
• Commissioners unanimously adopted a resolution proclaiming May 2023 as Older Americans Month in Chatham County. “Chatham County can work to build an even better community for our older residents,” the resolution stated. “By not limiting our thinking about aging, exploring and combating stereotypes, emphasizing the many positive aspects of aging, inspiring older adults to push past traditional boundaries, and embracing our community’s diversity.”
The next Chatham Board of Commissioners meeting is scheduled for Monday, May 1, at 2 p.m. for a presentation of the proposed Fiscal Year 2023-2024 county budget. The regular session will begin at 6 p.m.
Reporter Ben Rappaport can be reached at brappaport@chathamnr.com or on Twitter @b_rappaport