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