RanchoMurieta.com | Published March 31, 2003
The Rancho Murieta Association has taken some strides toward a high-tech future for the community in the past year, but it may well be a giant leap that’s needed next.
The association is embarking on a technology master plan that would take the cable TV system and the broadband Internet access operation to a higher level.
Recently, 15 residents participated in a workshop conducted by The Broadband Group, the consultant the RMA hired to do a draft version of a technology master plan.
“I really don’t expect this to be a technology session,” Thomas A. Reiman, president of the company, told the group. The technology is not in doubt, he said; the question is whether it could “be delivered cost-effectively … and whether or not the community wants to take a cable or broadband system to the next level.”
The Broadband Group, based in Sacramento, “focuses on personalizing telecommunications for master planned communities,” Reiman said. He referred to other communities in the country where his company has developed technology systems with applications for education, health services, entertainment and telecommuting.
Ranch Murieta “has a unique opportunity,” he told the session, held March 21. “There is a very strong connection between economic development, community development and telecommunications.”
Realtor Pat Shaffer, one of the workshop participants, said RMA’s broadband service, launched less than a year ago, has enhanced the community’s appeal for homebuyers.
The consensus among the participants by the end of the 41/2-hour session was residents would be likely to agree to pay higher RMA dues if they knew they could get 100 TV channels and high-speed Internet access in return. Erin Reed spoke for many in the group when she said it would be a matter of educating people about what they would receive.
Caryl Abshire was among the participants who liked the idea that people would be able to watch RMA meetings online in real time and be able to participate without leaving home. It’s only one of the many applications in the broadband future described by The Broadband Group.
But higher dues wouldn’t be the only costs for a system capable of delivering video and high-speed data services.
“Infrastructure today is bound to fail,” Reiman said. As for RMA’s successful broadband operation, “You just haven’t had your problems yet,” he remarked.
To meet future demands for bandwidth, Reiman said fiber-optic cable would have to replace coaxial cable now in use. The current system would have to be evaluated, redesigned and upgraded to provide “vast amounts of data transmission,” he explained. Every existing home would need retro-fitting at a cost of about $1,000 apiece, he estimated. “The future is fiber to the home,” he said.
Considering that the RMA can’t fund anything more than the $5,000 draft version of the technology master plan at this point — The Broadband Group estimates the final plan will cost about $50,000, and no one was projecting the total costs for the high-tech scenario being outlined — where would the funds come from for a new, fiber-rich infrastructure if that’s what the community desires?
The Communications Committee is putting together a community survey based on the one filled out by workshop participants. It will be used to gauge community interest and support.
According to the cable services agreement that goes along with the cable system, the RMA is obligated to provide service to all of Rancho Murieta, not only the dues-paying North and South.
“When you start stretching outside of that, it’s a really difficult task (to provide service),” said Michael Burnett, the RMA director who chairs the Communications Committee and attended the workshop.
It’s a situation that will be exacerbated if new development brings separate homeowners associations, as planned.
Several other participants brought up another problem facing the RMA in raising funds to carry out plans for an advanced telecommunications system.
John Weatherford and others cited residents’ “resistance to RMA-run operations.”
Participant Ryan Fogleman said in his experience as the contractor who created and runs the RMA broadband operation, he finds broadband customers “are surprised and delighted” that it’s his company and not the RMA that serves them. Weatherford said, “I’m convinced we need a change of ownership.”
The suggestion was made that the Community Services District should take over ownership of the cable TV and broadband systems since it is within the powers granted to the district. In addition, the CSD serves the whole community.
Burnett said he thought it was appropriate because “CSD is like the engineering department of a city.”
The general manager of the CSD, Ed Crouse, who was present at the workshop, replied succinctly, “You should be asking my board.”
Burnett said RMA President Mike Schieberl plans to talk with CSD President Wayne Kuntz soon about the matter.
The other CSD staff person in attendance, Greg Hall, director of administrative services, said the district almost took over the cable system from the RMA in the late 1980s, when an agreement was drawn up but never signed.
Reiman suggested the technology master plan could serve as the district’s due diligence if it considers acquiring the system.