Good afternoon. I am sorry to crowd your email with another update, but there are important developments which we need to bring to your attention.
First: At the commission meeting last night, September 29th, the Commission approved a Phase one contract with AT&T. A new all-fiber network will be installed in Town. It will be done in two phases. Phase 1 is from Edwards Lane (both sides) to the south side of Beach Road. The actual installation will begin later this year with the exact date to be determined. This is an entirely new, state of the art service (equal in speed to 5G, but without ubiquitous microwave signals flooding the Town). Switch over to the new service will NOT be automatic. It will be a new service and AT&T customers will need to contact AT&T and ask to be switched to the new service. A new modem will convert a light signal to a digital signal which is required. Until ALL AT&T customers sign up for the new service the AT&T over service must be continued (This is a Federal Communication Commission mandate.). This means that the AT&T wire will remain on the poles until all customers in a zone are converted to the new program. You will be hearing more about this as the project moves forward. Palm Beach Shores will be the first Coastal Community in our neck of the woods to have an all-fiber communication network!
Second: FPL is moving ahead quickly with the removal of the overhead electric lines in Town. Most of the lines on Lake, Atlantic, and Ocean have been removed. Today, October 30th and tomorrow, they will be removing the lines along the Inlet pathway. Once all the perimeter lines are down, they will begin removing the lines that run east and west behind our homes. This will begin either late during the week of October 5th or the beginning of the following week. They are planning to work from south to north.
The south feeder line will be switched from overhead to underground early next week. At that point, the entire Town electrical service will be underground! FPL will then begin to monitor the load distribution of the new network and plan to install automatic switching capability, which means the elimination of most electric service outages.
Important Notice: When doing the conversions, Viking used “spice or junction boxes” to make connections on 95 buildings in Town. For very complicated reasons, this was not properly coordinated, either between Viking and FPL or within FPL SO, REMEDIAL ACTION IS REQUIRED!
- Thirty-two of the boxes are not required and will be removed by Viking and restoration will be done to the area where the box was installed. In the next week or so you will see Viking crews doing the removal and other remedial work on the boxes.
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Fifteen boxes now require additional work, but owners will be asked to sign a Consent agreement giving FPL approval to install the junction box. These letters will be sent to each impacted home and the owner will be called by the Town Staff.
- Thirty-one homes have junction boxes that require remedial work but will remain. This work will be done sometime in the next two weeks. Also, these homes will be asked to sign a consent form, and, as above the letter will be sent and owners will receive a phone call from the Town Staff.
- And finally, 17 homes have junction boxes that must be examined further to determine their status. This inspection will take place within the next two weeks.
We apologize for this inconvenience.
Third: Comcast is nearing completion. As I have reported earlier, some communication conduit runs were omitted by Viking. Some were missed by the Town consulting engineer. During the first two weeks of October, remedial drilling and conduit installation will be done to correct the deficiencies. Work will be done on Ocean Drive (including the Inlet access road) and Inlet Way.
If you have any questions concerning the foregoing, please call me or Alan Welch.
Cheers,
Alan
