Fiber Coming Soon To Northport Area; More Broadband Buzz

There is forward motion on many fronts to build a stronger broadband infrastructure in Leelanau County, including a promise to bring fiber-optic internet services with speeds up to 200Mbps to 350 households in the northwest part of the peninsula, from the boundary of Carlson Road at the north to Leland Woods to the south.

Tim Maylone, CEO of Cherry Capital Connection (CCC), a competitive local exchange carrier provider based in Elk Rapids and servicing 13 counties, tells the Leelanau Ticker that after many negotiations, his company is able to secure AT&T middle-mile fiber access at what he calls “reasonable wholesale level pricing,” making a business case that is sustainable.

The middle-mile access enables CCC to then construct last-mile fiber direct to each household, at an investment of $350,000.

“It takes a lot of balancing to make it happen. We navigated the AT&T machine for over 3 years with help from people and organizations that have decades in the business,” says Maylone. “This required significant commitments both from CCC and AT&T — including multiple financial reviews, a non-disclosure agreement and operational experience.”

This investment will set the foundation for doing fiber to the home in even more areas between Northport and Leland, Maylone says. “I’m not going to make my money tomorrow, but everything in fiber is generational in thought, so we will be putting in the pipe a big enough to accommodate fiber optic cable to eventually meet the needs of everything north of M-204.”

He says in order for CCC to acquire the customer base to justify such a commitment, he counted on real community effort, and neighborhood champions to talk to neighbors about utilizing the fiber service.

Justin Maylone, operations manager at Cherry Capital Connection, adds, “communities that embrace this infrastructure will be setting the next generations up for the ability to take advantage of whatever the future holds. Fiber access is going to be the new have, have not situation…it is an essential service for tele-commuting/schooling/healthcare, etc.”  

Among those the Maylones count as champions: Kristi Fischer and Brian Hafner, owners at Fischer’s Happy Hour Tavern near Northport, who agreed to allow CCC to lease land, long term, on their property (on the Gills Pier Road side of M-22) to put up a shed to serve as a central office for fiber. Says Tim Maylone, “It is to their advantage to have fiber at their place of business, as they are deep in trees and a most difficult scenario for wireless, but this really shows a commitment to their neighbors. They understand what fiber means to the area.”

Mike McMillan, who moved to Gills Pier from Memphis a little over a year ago, is one of 225 residents who has signed up for the service. “I looked at all our options because we had the house wired for fiber during construction, and, through a senior contact at Charter, I investigated if they had any plans to expand from their current services to nearby Leland and Northport and the reply at the time was a definitive no. Specific to fiber, Tim [Maylone] has had to be persistent as anyone I’ve worked with over the years because of the fractured network of fiber in Northern Michigan.”

McMillan has been answering any questions his neighbors have about fiber, in hopes to create enough momentum (a.k.a. signups) to make this a reality. He says, “The reality of fiber coming later this year has been very well received. With respect to cost, it’s not that much more expensive than the current service, and the cost/value equation is pretty simple for folks to appreciate. The bigger question has always been, when? Until they see the trenching, it’s just a hopeful sign.”

So, what’s next? Justin Maylone says the central hub on the Fischer's Happy Hour property is a critical first step, and will be there “ASAP.” The 8x8-foot Amish-built shed (pictured above) will hold the electronics for processing the internet and telephone services, power generation and environmentals. All fiber will terminate at the shed. CCC has navigated most but not all of the necessary easements and has begun to seek road permits in order to bore, trench and lay the fiber optic cable. Of note, Gills Pier is a designated natural beauty road, which means additional special permission needs to be granted from Leelanau Township in order to bore and trench. Justin Maylone adds that the current 350-household project requires 9 to 12 months construction with a single crew, but they will hook up houses as they lay the fiber, so “I don’t think it’s unreasonable for us to have a few homes hooked up by the end of September.”

Meanwhile, work is also moving ahead on the fixed wireless internet front across the county, with contracts in the works for internet service providers (ISPs) to broadcast from the five county-owned towers, which are in Maple City, Omena, Leland, Northport, and Suttons Bay.

“Fiber is best, hands down, but it is not feasible to have everywhere right now,” says Patricia Soutas-Little, representing the Leelanau Peninsula Economic Foundation (LPEF), a nonpartisan advisory board supporting Leelanau businesses by providing resources, programming and collaborative opportunities. Soutas-Little is chair of both LPEF and its Leelanau Internet Futures Team (LIFT). 

She says the LIFT committee initially interviewed a dozen providers who had interest in coming to Leelanau County, but ultimately didn’t because of challenges navigating the unique regulations of each township, and the fact that most Leelanau County residents don’t want towers marring the landscape.

“We concluded the best thing we can do is use the current, county-owned towers and put ISPs on them to deliver fixed-wireless broadband services,” she says.

Elevate Net has already signed a contract with the county and is installing equipment now, and contracts with Cherry Capital Connection, Agri-Valley Services and Aspen Wireless are in progress (with some being signed this month).

“This is very good news,” says Soutas-Little. “Each company will not be all be on all the towers, but we will have a tower network that covers a majority of our county. We still lack coverage on the western corridor — that is why we are going for the grant,” she adds. 

Cue the efforts of Lake Leelanau resident Paul Winston, who collaborated with other volunteers on the LIFT committee — during the pandemic — to seek funding for two additional county towers. The application (in progress) is from Leelanau County for a public works grant under the Economic Development Administration’s Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) Recovery Assistance.

The grant proposal seeks federal funds that would be used to build two new county-owned towers plus the required equipment to fill gaps in the current tower infrastructure within the county. The towers can be leased to internet service providers willing to expand their service. Winston says the grant also seeks funding for a contract with an ISP to run fiber-optic cable to one of the new towers, as the most reliable way to transport high-speed internet that is used to broadcast fixed wireless services.

Currently, one tower is proposed on the Leelanau County Government Center campus, and another on Miller Hill, in Glen Arbor Township.

Soutas-Little tells the Leelanau Ticker that LIFT may seek an alternate location for the Glen Arbor region, because of a clause on the Miller Hill deed indicating the property needs to be used as a park. In the meantime, LIFT is working with the township on a possible appeal or special consideration for the tower. Soutas-Little says one proposed solution is to consider a style other than a traditional lattice tower: “It could be a 'tree tower,' she says, “that can be buried among the trees.”