The alternative approach to using eminent domain authority is to procure easement rights by receiving a signed easement by each property owner whose property will be crossed by the broadband network, during the initial installation or at any point in the future. The inventory of properties crossed by the broadband network well over 100 properties. In light of the July 3rd deadline for acquiring public easement rights, our confidence in receiving each easement before July 3 was not reasonably secure enough to risk missing this crucial deadline and delaying, or even losing, the opportunity to receive funding to move forward with the project. To the furthest extent possible we want to be transparent and open with the community and encourage you to share your specific questions, concerns, or comments with us by contacting [email protected]

CBAC will proceed with the financial planning aspects of the project and an engineering consultant will be hired to design the specific blueprints and plans for installing the network. The engineering plans will follow the design layout and provide installation details to ensure the fiber line will mesh with the existing Monhegan Plantatation infrastructure and activities, and sufficiently endure long-term seasonal environmental changes.

The tower plans are being designed by a tower engineering consultant in Maine and will be subject to all necessary environmental review processes required by the USDA as well as the terms set forth by leases between Monhegan Associates and the Monhegan Plantation Power District.

Installing the broadband fiber from the Monhegan Power Station along the water lines will be conducted by persons attaching the cable to water lines with zip ties and using a spade or shovel to bury the fiber line where necessary. There will be no period of time where any property would be rendered inaccessible due to the installation process, and any disturbance to the land due to burying the fiber line will be mended to the furthest extent possible. While a definitive work schedule has not been developed, the installation process will very likely not occur during the summer/peak tourism months for much of the island.

The fiber lines are ⅛ inch by ¼ inch black cables. Depending upon where you look along the route, there will be anywhere from one to a dozen of these cables bundled together and attached to the water lines. Following the prescribed route of the layout design the fiber will be attached to the two and three inch black plastic water pipes only where necessary for delivering broadband service to different sections of the island. Where the water line is irretrievable or may be blocked by an obstacle, the fiber will be buried along the route of the water line with as minimal detouring as possible. The Layout Design prescribed the route for the "trunk" of the fiber line network.

Each fiber line in the "trunk" line will end at a site with a "mux box." A mux box is a small water-tight box that can be attached to building or small post and which acts as a fiber line "splitter" (i.e. one fiber line goes into the box and is "split" into multiple separate service-to-the-home lines). From each of the 18 mux boxes within the layout design, approximately 15 individual service lines can be extended to individual homes and buildings. Service lines have the same physical properties as the trunk fiber lines, and can follow a route to be determined by the specific land contours/direction of individual subscribers.

The specifics of who performs the repairs to the fiber line due to accidental or environmental damage to the fiber line will be determined by a Franchise Agreement between the Plantation and the broadband provider. Home owners will not be financially responsible for repairs made to the trunk line. Repairs will be made by the provider if necessary, but there is also an opportunity for Islanders to acquire the knowledge and resources necessary to make repairs to the fiber line and be compensated for their labor. In either case, individual property owners will not be held accountable for repairs to the broadband line, although the overall expense of repairing the fiber line will be billed to the Plantation, since the network will be a publicly owned (i.e. Plantation-owned) Broadband utility network.