Fiber-to-home access to be sped up for townships

MEDINA — Roughly $5 million in federal American Rescue Plan funds are slated to be put toward expanding Medina County Fiber Network access into local townships. The project, dubbed Fiber Early, will represent a partnership among Medina County, fiber network backers, and Lorain-Medina Rural Electric Cooperative (LMRE), which owns poles and electrical infrastructure in areas slated for expansion, according to Medina County Commissioner Steve Hambley. Hambley said organizers hope to have fiber access available for homes in townships including York, Litchfield, Chatham, Liverpool, Harrisville and Spencer as well as Spencer village within the next few years. "We're going to be setting up a meeting with the jurisdictions, the townships and villages that are within the LMRE district," he said. "As the LMRE partnership goes forward, we're going to be getting fiber to their residents earlier than everyone thought. Before this, we didn't really have a timeframe for access in those areas. There were no plans whatsoever from us, as it's LMRE territory. This is in the formative phase right now." Further specifics of the township and village expansion are still being finalized, Hambley said. Alabama-based Lit Communities and its subsidiary, Medina Fiber, are leading Medina County Fiber Network's residential expansion. That work commenced in March in Seville with steady northward progression ever since. Residential network construction was scheduled to begin in the first half of 2020 before COVID-19 and ensuing gathering restrictions put plans on hold. "With (LMRE) owning the polls, they would also get ownership of some of the fiber lines as part of this," Hambley said. "They've targeted the next five years to get this technology and smart technology to those homes. Now, Fiber Early is going to allow them to do that much faster, probably more like two years with this partnership." Litchfield Township Trustee Dennis Horvath was enthusiastic upon learning of the project. "That would just be fantastic," he said. "There are so many people moving to Litchfield and so many great things about it but one of the few complaints we hear is about our internet, we just don't have good, consistent high-speed internet. If that could change, it would mean so much with more kids going to school at home and doing other things online they didn't use to. For our first responders and pretty much everyone, that would be really amazing. Hearing that just made my day." Contact reporter Jonathan Delozier at (330) 721-4050 or jdelozier@medina-gazette.com.