UPPER DELAWARE RIVER, NY and PA —  An update regarding a $29 million broadband internet project and possible township data center ordinances were discussed during an Upper Delaware Council (UDC) meeting on November 5. 

Archtop Fiber broadband project

An update regarding Archtop Fiber’s $29.9 million broadband internet project in Sullivan County was heard at the UDC meeting. 

The project, which began construction last summer, was funded by Gov. Kathy Hochul’s ConnectALL grant program, which aims to expand broadband internet service throughout the state.

Over 22,000 addresses in Sullivan County will be able to access service through this grant and be placed in towns and hamlets such as Callicoon, Roscoe, Cochecton and parts of Tusten. Fiber will be placed in 253.4 miles across the county. 

Kevin DeLouise, Archtop Fiber’s chief construction officer, explained that about 220 miles of conduit has been constructed already, and the project has 22 customers connected in Liberty.

“The roads and the access to those roads has been challenging,” he said. “Sullivan has been working on this for quite some time, before the grant even existed.”

Nadia Rajsz, chair of the Sullivan County legislature and UDC’s Lumberland representative, commended Archtop for its work in providing broadband internet access. 

DeLouise added that the goal was to finish all construction in 2026.

“This is designed to be an underground project. An underground network is more resilient to weather, it is more permanent.” DeLouise commented.

Peter DeAngelis, the Town of Tusten Dog Control Officer, said that there was a seven-foot conduit sticking out of the ground near his property.

“When they went under the driveway, there’s significant cracking,” he said, sounding frustrated. “Who’s going to be responsible to fix that this winter when the ice gets under there [and] creates a pothole in my driveway?”

Lorne Green, Sullivan County Information Technology Services Commissioner, said that if there’s damage to a property, that he should be contacted and that “typically within 24 hours, there’s a remediation plan and resolution in place.”

“If the orange thing is gonna be there til the end of the year, don’t be surprised if you see Christmas lights on it,” DeAngelis joked.

Christine Martin, UDC’s Highland representative, asked if the materials used to build the fiber internet connectivity were safe or not.

DeLouise said all building materials are approved and permissible by DOT.

“The going objective was to at some point in time be able to get as close to 100 percent service throughout the entire county as possible,” Green said.

Green explained that the project is a starting point, and that while it may not service the entire Upper Delaware corridor right now, long-term it would. 

Archtop has exclusive rights to the network for at least three years, but after that the fibers may be able to be sold to other networks. 

To see if Archtop Fiber is in your area, visit shop.archtopfiber.com.

Data center ordinances 

Proposed data center ordinances from Shohola Township and Damascus Township sparked conversation from board members during Thursday’s meeting.

Both ordinances, reviewed by UDC Resource and Land Use Specialist Julie Pais, define what data centers are in their zoning code and put restrictions on, for example, water usage, noise levels and lighting. 

Martin asked how the UDC used to handle fracking when it threatened the river corridor, as data centers may also pose an environmental risk. 

Aaron Robinson, UDC’s vice chairperson and Shohola representative, clarified that the UDC only has jurisdiction on projects in the river corridor, and neighboring townships must use their own discretion for proposed data centers in their area.

“So all of these data centers are outside of the boundary?” Rajsz asked.

“Well it’s not even a data center, it’s just an ordinance.” Robinson responded.

“No, I’m talking about this right here, this is the data center proposal,” Rajsz said, pointing to the ordinances.

“No, that’s an ordinance,” Robinson replied.

Robinson said that in Pennsylvania, municipalities cannot outright ban any specific land use, such as data centers.

“You can regulate it, but you can’t outlaw [it].” he said.

“There’s no federal support for a project that impacts any of those characteristics of the river,” Lindsey Kurnath, National Park Service representative, said.

“A lot of things are called a data center, and some of them are huge and some of them are not,” she said. “If it’s a small private data center that won’t affect the river, then it doesn’t need a permit.”

The UDC passed a motion indicating that Shohola and Damascus Townships’ amendments complied with the River Management Plan.