Salt Lake City will convene a fact-finding hearing tonight regarding the city's potential involvement in the Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency (UTOPIA).

The city has already received more than a dozen letters from residents who oppose city involvement in the project, which seeks to bring high-speed fiber communication lines to every home in the city. Already, 18 cities, including Salt Lake City, have signed on and paid for a feasibility study for the project.

Critics say the project is too risky since the city could be on the line for millions in sales tax revenues if the project fails. Also, existing telecommunications companies that already provide fiber communication to limited customers in Salt Lake City say UTOPIA unfairly competes with the private sector.

Dr. Wendell Gibby, a neural radiologist who uses a similar fiber-optic network; Jerry Fenn, Utah president of Qwest; Roger Black, chief operating officer of UTOPIA; Mike Jarman, vice president of the Utah Taxpayers Association; Pete Ashdown, founder of XMission; Steve Proper of Comcast; and Kelly Murdock, Wells Fargo's public finance officer and the city's financial adviser; will all testify at the hearing.

The city's public-access cable channel, Ch. 17, will broadcast the hearing live. The hearing begins at 5:30 p.m. in Room 326 of the City-County Building, 451 S. State.