Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity of San Luis Obispo Amendment Request 08-15-2025City of San Luis Obispo, Finance and Information Technology, 990 Palm Street, San Luis Obispo, CA, 93401-3249, 805.781.7130, slocity.org August 15, 2025 Federal Funding Account Administrator Dear Federal Funding Account Administrator, During our recent review of Broadband Serviceable Locations (BSLs), the City and its partner, Astound Broadband, identified several census blocks that appeared to be added to our Federal Funding Account (FFA) grant-funded project in error. We have provided the updated list of BSLs that the City of San Luis Obispo, in partnership with our ISP (Astound), will be connecting through our FFA Last Mile grant to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). The City is submitting this letter to request an amendment to our project to make some critical corrections to the data. First, we have removed several census blocks and their associated BSLs that do not include any CPUC- identified unserved locations (.kmz attached). We are unclear why these census blocks were included in the data, given that the 2023 CPUC maps do not locate a single unserved address in these blocks. These blocks are problematic for the grant, because not only are they already well-served, but they have underground utilities and already have a FTTP provider (AT&T). Thus, we have removed these blocks from our current plan; however, the removal of these blocks does not change our network design (which is undergoing 90% completion review to keep the project on schedule to complete construction by mid-2026). These removed blocks include a census block around San Luis Ranch, immediately west of Highway 101, where a single unserved address mistakenly showed up in the 2023 CPUC maps – this is a brand new housing development, which is entirely underground and served by both Charter/Spectrum and AT&T fiber to the home. The single address identified in the map is clearly a mistake and likely due to the incomplete neighborhood construction at the time of the mapping. We have still retained several blocks that also do not have any 2023 CPUC unserved addresses identified; however, these are areas that either are aerial utilities, or are adjacent to existing Astound fiber, so that these blocks can easily be connected without incurring unnecessarily high costs to the grant. Secondly, we have removed two census blocks that had just a single 2023 CPUC unserved address identified, as we believe these unserved addresses were a mapping error (see attached .kmz). One of these “unserved” addresses is a new office building that has recently completed construction; we believe that at the time of the mapping (2023), since construction was not complete, it was erroneously identified as “unserved.” Every other BSL within the census block is already served. The other block identifies a single building within a brand new condominium complex (all 100% served by both AT&T fiber and Charter/Spectrum)– again, likely a mistake and/or overlap between the 2023 mapping and the construction of the new homes. Because these appear to be mapping errors, the overall scope and cost of our project remains unchanged. The City’s plan achieves the goals of the FFA grant, at the costs identified within the grant application – connecting 496 unserved households (the application identified 490) and passing a total of 1,571 neighboring households within the census blocks where those unserved locations exist. I am available for any questions you may have. Sincerely, Joshua Erquiaga Information Technology Manager City of San Luis Obispo