CENTRAL WHIDBEY: Port broadband project may leave out some residents

Luisa Loi reports from Central Whidbey for the Whidbey News-Times.

The Port of Coupeville’s broadband project, which has been in the works for about six years, is going through some changes that will leave some addresses within the initial project area unserved or underserved for some time.

The change of scope was reviewed by the state Public Works Board — which granted the project $4.8 million in 2021 — at a meeting on Friday, Oct. 4.

Until recently, the plan was to bring fiber to 1,043 Central Whidbey address IDs with slow to no internet. Now, that number has shrunk to 345. This past summer, the port discovered that over 600 of those ID addresses in the original list had become served by fiber over the past few years, while 38 addresses were not valid, according to Executive Director Chris Michalopoulos.

They Said It

Though he wishes the port had done it and that it had become aware of the changes sooner, Michalopoulos said he is glad that many homes are finally served and believes this is good news.

“The port’s main goal is to see the communities that were targeted served with the appropriate internet connections,” he said.

Michalopoulos said the East Coast-based company initially selected to do the design and engineering work suddenly “pulled the plug on their promises,” prompting the port to walk away in spring and later reach out to Ziply to develop a change of scope rather than start all over with a complete redesign — which was not a feasible option.

Since the cost of labor and materials has gone up dramatically over the past few years, the port and Ziply would reduce the already slimmed-down target list to 345. Michalopoulos said he doesn’t know how many addresses that would affect, but he does know that about 15 residences on Cathedral Drive would be left out.

Michalopoulos hopes that the addresses that were left out will be eventually funded by BEAD, a program that awards funds for the construction of infrastructure to bring fast speed internet to communities in need.

The port hopes to sign an indefeasible right of use contract — or “IRU” — with Ziply within the next two weeks, Michalopoulos wrote in a text Tuesday.

Under the IRU, Ziply would assume the role of subrecipient, taking much of the burden off the port’s shoulders and reimbursing the port for any labor, Michalopoulos said.

“Ziply would design, build, manage and eventually own that infrastructure,” he said.

The project was initially expected to be completed within the first quarter of 2025. Michalopoulos said that with Ziply driving the engineering and the construction, they could still hit that deadline.