From Deseret News archives:
Residents criticize stations for iProvo
Foes say the fiber-optic sheds are ugly, intrusive
The first one recently popped up near a school in the Grandview neighborhood. There is another near Westridge Elementary. When all is said and done, there will be 24 of them built throughout Provo.
While they may look like nothing more than storage sheds, they are actually substations for Provo's new fiber-optic telecommunications network, known as iProvo. If all goes according to plan, the network's ultrahigh-capacity bandwith will be leased by the city to private firms, which will in turn provide enhanced voice, video and data services to subscribers. Network planners say some bandwith will also be reserved for education and public awareness purposes.
But some Provo residents are upset about the sheds, the first piece of the plan.
"They said this would have no impact on our neighborhood," Van Buren said. "Then all of a sudden they are just plopping these dumb, ugly sheds right smack in the middle of our neighborhoods with no consideration for how it impacts us."
The shed in Grandview isn't just ugly, Van Buren said, it's also dangerous. Because of the shed's close proximity to a crosswalk, it makes it difficult for motorists to see children coming and leaving school.
Van Buren took up his complaints with Kevin Garlick, director of Provo City Power, the agency that is overseeing the project. Garlick agreed to move the shed to another location—the west side of the Grandview parking lot, which pleased Van Buren.
"As we go into neighborhoods, we're going to make sure we work with the residents," said Provo Power spokeswoman Mary Delamare-Schaeffer. "We don't expect to be relocating another one."
Delamare-Schaefer said not all of the locations for the sheds have been chosen.
E-mail: jhyde@desnews.com
