Connectivity In Kitsap: LUD In Lookout Lane

Residents in the Lookout Lane neighborhood of Kitsap County, Washington, tired of shoddy DSL do they joined forces to take advantage of publicly owned fiber. By the end of 2016, this group of organized neighbors anticipates connecting to the Kitsap Public Utility District (KPUD) open access fiber network.

How Did They Do It?

According to the October newsletter from the Northwest Open Access Network (NoaNet), neighbors in the Lookout Lane area had dealt with slow DSL for some time, paying $60 per month for speeds that rarely reached 1 Megabit per second (Mbps). Some of the residents have careers in the tech industry and required high-speed connections to work from home, but the national incumbent would not invest in upgrades. Lack of high-quality Internet access also caused several home sales to fall through.

Members in the neighborhood decided to petition the KPUD to form a Local Utility District (LUD), to fund their portion of the cost of a fiber expansion to their homes. KPUD would finance the cost of deployment to the edge of the neighborhood. Residents decided the investment was worth an assessment on their property rather than contending with the outdated technology offered by the incumbent.

The Lookout Lane LUD is the first in the state of Washington established for Internet infrastructure.

Forming A LUD In Washington

NoaNet describes the steps in forming a LUD on their newsletter:

How does a LUD work? 

  • Homeowners petition the Public Utility District to form a Local Utility District
If a majority (50%+1) of the homeowners petition the LUD is formed
  • Once the LUD is formed, the PUD begins the process to construct the infrastructure
When construction is complete, the homeowners are provided a final assessment amount The assessment can be paid:
  • Upfront 
  • Over a 20-year period 
  • Or a combination of the two – A portion upfront and the rest over 20 years
The county administers the assessment and homeowners receive a tax bill for their 
assessed amount annually

KPUD, a member of NoaNet, began using the COS Service Zones survey system in August 2015 to determine where county members wanted them to expand for possible residential service. The state of Washington prohibits PUDs from providing retail service to residences, but the KPUD wanted to prepare for the time when they might open up the network for wholesale service so private ISPs could use the fiber infrastructure.

When the Lookout Lane neighborhood buildout is complete, the KPUD will have the opportunity to examine results for possible similar build outs in other areas of the county.