Plans proceed for expanded broadband service in Sugar Valley, Renovo area
LOCK HAVEN, PA – Officials with the Clinton County Planning Department say improved broadband service is getting closer for the area east of Loganton and at Bucktail Medical Center in South Renovo. County planner Katie de Silva and grants administrator Kari Kepler provided an update at the Monday Clinton County Commissioners’ work session.
de Silva said funding will allow improved service to 315 homes and seven businesses east of Loganton. A portion of the funding for that work flows from an Appalachian Regional Commission grant announced a year ago. de Silva said the work will be performed by Upward Broadband from Paradise, PA. She said Upward was selected from three proposals and the county has received good feedback from Huntingdon and Mifflin counties where Upward is performing similar work.
She said the project will provide the capability to expand to 10,500 customers well beyond the county line. It will consist of both fiber and point-to-point wireless components; its purpose is to provide high speed internet and reliability, de Silva said.
The project carries a price tag of $1.482 million. As later explained by the county planner, Upward’s investment is $375,000 plus a loan from SEDA-COG of $778,532 for lease payments for the tower sites. Grants will amount to $439,647 through the county from the Appalachian Regional Commission and a $250,000 state grant.
The county planner said the award had been long awaited and followed a “long and complicated journey.”
Kepler said special Community Development Block Grant coronavirus-related money will help Bucktail Medical Center to broadband improvements. The application for that project is still ini its developmental stage. She said the county is hoping for a $150,000 USDA grant to help leverage the cost of the project. The planners said Comcast was the lone bidder for the BMC project. de Silva later told therecord-online the county wants to upgrade its EMA radio towers and equipment and wants to get reliable broadband service to not only the Bucktail Medical Center but also Bucktail High School in nearby Farwell.
