HomeMy WebLinkAbout1984-07-10 TOWN OF (IROTON
Public hearing
Tuesday , July 10 , 1, 984
TOWN BOARD ( all present ) OTHERS PRESENT,
Teresa Robinson , Supervisor Colleen Pierson , Town Clerk
Ellard Sovocool Jack Fitzgerald , Town Attorney
Donald Cimmiings Gary Stood , Town Zoning Officer
Gordon VanBenschoten 'Leland Cornelius , Highway Super-
Joseph Graham intendent
American Community Cablevisi. on -
Georgi. a Griffith , Kevin York
' . Robert Hines , ACC Attorney
Clark and Irene Woodcook , Pleasant
41 Veal ley Rd . .' ,
Ile Don Brown , Sovocool Rd ,
Elizabeth Brauner , 'Lick St .
Catherine Holden,, W . Groton
Ralph Cwt,miengs , Stilt Rd .
Robert McFadden, Clark & Salt Rd .
iouann Martin , ' Old Stage Rd .
Robert Fletcher , County Cable
Commission
T . Robinson , Supervisor , opened the Public Hearing :for granting a
Cable , TV Franchise to American Television Communications Corporation for a
period of ten years by reading the Public Notice dated June 25 , .19840
T . Robinson opened to Hearing to anybody that had a statement or question .
D * BROWN : We live one mile from - town and we do not 'have cable ; while friends
of, ours live on Caswell Rd . , -farther out , and they have cable ,
1 know many families on Sovocool would like cable . yie are close
to Groton , so I see no reason why we should not have it . We are
willing to pay for it .
G . GRI, PITH : We are willing at any time to look into extending cable where
presently there is , no service . I don ' t know if your area was
looked into a few months ago ,
D . BROWN : Some one came up to our place from Ithaca , said it cost $ 900 to
have it installed .
G . GRIFFITH : I can ' t speak off the top of my head what it would cost .
In the present franchis,e [here is a provision foroline extension .
We would be glad to look at how - far your house' is from the current
cable ; find - out whether' we are responsible .to : build or whether
you are required to pay and aid in construction to get the cable
to your house . I can take your name tonight and have it checked
into .
U . BROIJv : I think it has be done already . 'I" stopped earlier the spring and
then sent a notice to us it would be $ 900 to have it hooked up .
Is there reason enough to be here to listen to this tonight . I
don ' t know if we ' re talking about our area or the areas that:
are already served .
C . GRIFFITH * Tonight we ' re talking about the current area that meets
the standards . We are talking about the standard to be adopted
tonight recommended by the State . It costs us more money to do
business with fewer homes ; less revenue in that area . If . there
are some changes in the area we could look at the cost of, doing
business .
1 . IJ ODCOOK : Dd - d need a etition from the people in the area before
0 yo P p P
you look into it ?
C . GRT. FFITHe No , we just need a phone call .
I . WOODCOOK: 'there is cable less than a mile from us .
G . GRIT'1ITH : Sometimes that is difficult to look at and explain . There
is Usually quite a few homes up to that point and not many before
your home . That big of an area would cost; us to build . C6st
of running a l. i.ne . overhead is $ 1. 2 , 000 per mile . Some areas may
cost more than that . That his gone up quite a bit the last few
years .
r .
73
r.
R . � CPADb.E� l ' Do o �i use own . ,pal es of exist rig - gaol s ?
G GRIFFITHF TJe use existin � ' poles ' i '� we care. ] here are required -
" xs'•tknees for', the el`ectx. ic and to e. art! 9t= casts to move `
Zephon
.. ^
theti liiies . If : there is not . enought room for ail 'three , _ k'e
s ,
=, ; • Pa to rep Iage. ' the pale ':' Tliat cysts time 'anrl mar�ey ; , ' the utilities
Nave,; to coven . th3- 1eir expenses ais We can use : the P?ci. stn pole
u d s 7 ".
r
ex`a1ly .gen ,5 It
e 1 _
R . Mc1'rtDJ]l;N . Ile Ii:ve 3 iYOr e' s , on. ,CIark St' i yExt . , _ . from groton and T l iiow
. . ' .
there are not 35 , houses per ])N)Lle . " , `
' soe l teast ; sanchisG GRTTTH lrt Flirs a ft � -. h
than I am and , 1) e - made" the statement the . new State Formula xs .
actually Limo i'avorable to ` the T'o �rn than 'the old 'l:ox'gp� la : f 'Ih �
old one was 4G ; shomes , per Tnile ; now it is . 35 homes. per inU6
J: . kTOObcDOK What your ,saying is , , xf one family wanted. tcable "you rni.ild do :
it but it would, cost them more
. . C . l IFFTTH ; We don ' t : figure in t x rris of subscribers .. • The formula ; a s :
honu� s per mile re ardles 's o`L who subscribes . Me don ' t have to
have commitments' . Pf.sthere_ .are ' 35 per mile ' or 17 per, Lhalf mile ;
we are, required, to build
G . _ PIFRSC}N : I' think we should e pIai what the ,franchise . agreement is
and .what " it covers .
l' . ROBINSIONA. Basically , what happened , it + Started out the ca'bie .came to
the Ni. 11age and the VillIage had the cahle '! V . all :through. it ,
coming through the "down to get to t]Ie • VillageI they , came ;
through Perliville to PerIj ad . to Groto ' Tile people on than
l a. ne into .PeruvI 1:Ze have +the oable . From PeruviIle that _ line
e x ie-nds into Mc]..ean . ` 5ewr rah , years ago .. •an extension . was made to
the . .Cortland Itd . rtc ' ., ck .'St . _ That T&*as . an ext ens iou in a'dditirt
C the ; franchise we had existing.. The xrsIt cable 1 ne ' was into. '
_e _ 1
Peruville and : into Groton . : The next extension` was , a ' srl)ZII :.one
„J, �.rn Street to f is c `fit . l} ou C' � ' q �zart:er off' . a n1ile ; the third
extension went into McLe cart ; ` from Mc 1.Lean.. 6ut x 'L' _c19Ta1es to' the 1
• %]. 4 a ,
{ a L1 i-
County lirie . TY� at .i .e13 ' * e -have in the : bran }ii, e ', ., technical lv :
Wer have asked fof. an._ extension ;to .ovocoo.l H L 11 art�. . .P � easant ,
to
it
Valley RbI ' ` We nave `aslced - to have it extended out she f3too , at
iron ar(narip th ,Q ,f, rthe pillage by : The CEittholic ' Chtirch . '1"hose '
i {
are+ the • reggests we hrexve ruade outside tho Village . 10 can ° te.11
yoit + the, cheapest tIkeyI _ca]Re. UP wiltIi was GUU: Per house . 'that
differs -in dxf, .ferent areas . Lf the people interested i.ri an ores
and they.. T? ant ' to pay . at IIt . . of , amone y , detetmined by the
number. af ' bause�s - .in the area , ' you can gei cal + e - i ` .ttie long
rmrk the . payback, wo (J.d , +fa.r surpass ther a.nitiaY cost The •.,other
think i's , .;ttke ` �xb.1 irk t ]iis azea . is vld. . cable.',: especiall.vn
the Village . l .- There. are. lot of complaints ; it doesn ' t make »uirh
,. .r . t, _ LL
difference a. f in :tile �FiIIa e: or OWrk , they aren ' t p ]: eased - -with
`
. i
th aigs hreakxrig down a lot and not ploased with the .,- new . ' s'oheduloe
I vrant to hear 1I`rom you zf . 1-6U .are . pleasecl with the . soli,edul e .
7 +tyke it most . of you heri •; tbui ht. den t .
g have cable .
G'. GRT ]"P'TTH : Zf oaz y would li i
ke6 . me to I WJL 1 ten7i the nos;�;; : sexvxces . j
: .
r . We cov r. �l the . 'lxne. ' eytension , we ijfil7, look into f�.litner ` 1' xne
.
extens ions . , Anyboy who- would like Co T� would . be . glad To + take nairles
and . ' address and Phone numbers and get The - proper d ' partiuento on it . -
r; J
- 5 -
We have done some changes in the last fern months . Among these we
have extended our office hours . tole are trying to become more
responsive to our subscribers . We are open until seven at night
and nine to noon on. Saturday . Ide leave added more personnel and
trunk lines to answer more questions . Ve are changing software
equipment , the converters in people ' s homes with brown boxes ,
will be changed to new technology. . They cost more money but are
easier to change services . If the subscriber does not want HOB
we can punch into the computer and change the service on the con -
verter , it will save time , We added new services referred to
before . 4;e had been receiving from our, subscribers calling us
many concerns about duplications through the 20 channels . We
were carrying channels , 3 networks and 3 independents ,
lde kept the FCC channels arid , depending how close to a particular
station , . if we are in their contour , we have to 'carry it . That
is all you see on basic channels . We also have 3 independent
required by the Ithaca City franchise and. Cormitunity Programing
network , and the Learning Channel .
I . 140ODCOOK : You say you have to go 'by the nurnber of houses per mile
how much cost per family you put cable throught the village of
Groton . ldho paid for the cost of the hookup , You get A fee
for each person . The (aid not pay ,S000 ,
G . GRIFFIT114 We would if the area met the 35 homes per mile .
C . VOODCOOK. : You also have to be a village to meet that .
G . GRT. FT' TTH : You do need more homes than you have out there now .
b . FLETCHER : Two or Three people called me last couple of, day about the
s
adding of channels . Are you planning a disconnect charge with the
service ?
C . GRIFFITH : No , we do . not charge for disconnects . We will charge for
the process of changing the service , to pay the overhead of
computer time .
R . FLET. CHER .& They will be charged for dropping i..t ?
G . GRI .IFITH : They will be changed for . pi. cking up other services not for
dropping an existing one .
R FLETCHER : What if they decide tojjust drop it ?
G . GRIFFITH : There would be no change .
ll
T. . ROBINSON : If you drop - Home Hox 'Office and took the Sports ' Station ?
G . GRIFFITH : That .part of ,the tier' tyou , would pick up you , would, be charged
for . the work . We also added another new signal, that people have
been asking for my name , if not by name by description , the Sports
Channel , the Music Channel , an Arts and Fntertairmient Channel ,
the USA Network . . We ',lidded two new pay services , the movie
channel and the Disney channel .
C . PIERSON : tdhat is the cost for those ? [•7e have the basic rate that
is increasing fraiv $ 6 to $ 8 . What is the charge for the additional
services .
G . GRIFFIT. H # Miat we are going to be doing; is leave the basic phis
Tiers . The Tier includes the new service with the exception of th
new pay service . If you buy that you would pay $ 10 . 95 We have
a number of packages people buy with several things together you
get a discount . If you buy everything the discount is $ 11 . 95 .
The total price is $ 36 . 95� bought one by ont;, . $ 49 . 00 ' total .
We have other packages also that include less items for less
of a discount ,
- 7 -
l: . ROODC00k : The pillage has cable , why can ' t they come out into the country
with it . People are going to ge with the Satellite . You can buy
it one for 12 to 18 hundred dollars and . it will pay : for itself .
Co . GRIFFITH : There are other technologies out there t6 use . I wish we
could service everyone and still make a profit . I wish we could
bring it to everyone - that wanted it . Ve just can ' t afford to .
t, . CORNELIUS , The rate is going from , to $ 8 , what do we get for the $ 2
extra ,
G . GRIFFITH * The additional price is on the basic charuiels . The FCC
says we must carry the New York Channel , the :Learning Channel,
and the Community Prorrarning .
C . PIERSON * flow many people are going back to the basic since you changed ./
G . GRIFFITHe Generally , not many . Ide have had outstanding acceptance of
the new Channels . We are getting good responses . It ' s early
maybe they will try things and then decide they don ' t like theme
People are anxious to see what is out there .
C . PIERSON : How much feed back have you received on the Plus channel
you cart ?
G . GRIFFITH : IJe have received 50 Letters abut Channel 44 and 15 letters
about Channel 21 . Most people are those that subscribed to the
PBS Channels . , However , such a small group of people at this point
we are willing to let the channels stand . kTe don ' t have may cable
channels left , He will do another survey if we decide to . add
more channels in the future .
R . Fl.ETCHER # I got about 30 letters and 2 petitions . They want to get
what the cities are getting . One thing crossed my mind , you
have a free channel which , I presume , you intend to use to promote
14 ]30 . It was suggested that Community Bulletin Board go on that .
That is something people would not mind being pre -empted for
others things and putting Channel 44 where that came from .
C . GRIFFITH : We want to survey people before we . make any more moves .
When only 50 people complain with " 2 , 000 subscribers- we want to
be sure *.before «e Make _any; moves . ' r
.C . PIERSON@ A survey might be well , people don ' t usually sit down and
mite . . th`inW you might be ; surpris.ed ' i.f you make a survey .
0 . GRIFFITH : Ve did make a surrey for Channel 21 in Rochester and 44 from
t•
Scranton . The main question was " how much do you watch these
Channels ? " . Channel 21 - only 3 . 57 watched it a lot ; Channe1 . 44 -
5 % of subscribers watched it . Apparently people who watch it like
it but they• seem to be a small. group . Programing is not an easy
sort of thing . . We want to put on what people want to . see . From
other people ' s standpoint if you have . . . . .
T . ROBINSON : I think what we are saving now there are a lot of areas
around that do not get the cable that are interested . I would lik
to see you each year up -date the cable and go a little farther
with the extension . Certain areas , do ten houses in a certain
period of time . It is not 35 but it is ten more you could wove
out each year . After a while you would have the whole area --
covered .
G . GRIFFITH * Certainly , any area there would be the question of cost .
If ten homes built in a third of a mile we would look into it .
T . Ji013I_VSO'N : How long would that take ?.
- 9 _
G . GRIFFITH : Normally from the time you contact us , six or so months .
K . YORK : You need quite a bit . of advance tune , it would be closer to
eight or ten months .
C . GRIFFITNoo You would also have to get the utilities to .move their lines .
To ROBINSON * It was roughly a year and a half before it came to McLean ,
1 . WOODCOOK : There is cable in Feruville and McLean ?
T . ROBINSON : Connected - from the Village . line along Rt 34 . The cable comes
up Caswell Rd . to Perville to McLean to Croton .
I . id00D000K I don ' t recall 35 house per mile there .
T . ROBIN.SON : The are on 'the access area to the Village of Groton .
7 . WOODCOOK : It branches off into Peruville ?
G . GRIFFITH : We had to build to Croton from our existing cable in the
process it passed homes that would have been isolated from the
Village .
T . ROBTNSON : For a long time McLean did not have cable .
B . McFADDEN : You talk about ten houses in a. third of a mile , that is a
. development not . a rural development .
T . ROBINSON * The area thought more feasible was the flat iron north of the
Village . '
C . CRIFFITH : Extension to - there was looked into lately . Line cost was
about $ 426 per house .
T . ROBINSON . That is just: to hook up .
L . MARTIN * We have to get the people in the area to sign up . We have
to solicit the people and take the list to the cable company .
G . GR .T. F'F' .T. TH : I am not familiar with that particular arrangement .
L . MARTIN : That is what they 'told me .
I
R . HINES : The more subscribers , the unit cost would go down . It behoves
them to get as many people involved as possible . I think with the
north extension what you are asking is give some sort of lower rate
or free rate for the extension because the cost is so high to the individual
subscriber . What- do we do with the next person who calls for the
cable , we have to do the same all along the line . We have 'the
uniform franchise agreement which is adopted by the State Formula .
We discussed this at earlier meetings , the formula gives formula
for jetting the cost of the basic service to the towns . We can ' t
ask other towns to adopt the franchise and then do something different
with Groton without expecting something different .
•
T . ROBINSON : I am talking about the trunk Tine which went in at the inter -
section . They would have to pay from the intersection all the way
out . The Village line is 3 [4 mule :[Torn interse'etion .' ' : bitty do they
have to pay ' for the part; , in the Village . Why can ' t tey be charged
from the Village line out ,
R . HTNES : I understand your question ; I checked into that since the last
meeting . That trunk line serving the Town has not hook up to the ,
Village . It is serving solely the part north of the illage .
I understand your point . That happens to be where it is . unfor -
tunately you can ' t tap the Village line at the limits because the
signal strength is not strong; enough . In order to pump more
strength to that area , you have to pay out to the line .
C . PIERSON : One question , .I, understand the 'grillage line running out of
I
Village being able to expand , do they rim another trunk line next
to the Village ' s or tap into it ?
G . GRIFFITH : If we extend we will run another trim: . The cable signals
- l1 -
can only go so far in terms of amplifiers : They boost the signals
to serve more people . We presently are at the - very limit in
amplifiers in the trunk line through the Village . We could not
add more than one or two if that . - Ve ' ext'end the cable as far as it
goes .
T . ROBINSON : Irt other words ,, that line, is. . there and not doing anything ?
G . Gk FITH *& I thought we were talking about the line that is. serving
at the end .
T . ROBINSON &* There must-- be , •two lines '[de' are suppose to hoop up_ to
G . GRIFFITH : I don ' t know the particular trunk lines out here .
T . ROBZA?SON : Ve would have Ito come into the , circuit ' to the corner ?
K . YORK : ' `les . .
R . HINES : T would like ` to say , we adopted the State Formula . You have
. a right to have the State Commission review our findings if you
find a problem with what we arrived at . We try to conform to
standards . If you feel they are misapplied to the formula or
given estimate , the State Cable Commission is in a position to
review it . It looks like we are the sole determiner of it ; we
make estimates but do not determine it .
T . ROBINSON : Colleen is on the County commission and has kept us informed .
R . HINFS : T say that because some people might wont to check the
figures . ,
R . McFADDEN : Is there a original hook up fee and then $ 36) a month ? •.Che
farther out you are the more it would cost ?
G . GRIFFITH. * Not exactly . If you are in an area . that does not conforrr, to
the 35 homes per mile , yes .
T . R0BINS0X * Are there any further questions ? If not , we will close
the Hearing .
{ • _ � � "]_
i , 1AR ARL '1' A., 11ALHER. ; DO GLRTICY that I, took the minutes of the
Pub lll[: Hearing h4 .jd . zn the , Tvwxm' :of . Groton , `lruesday , July 10 , 1, 984 and - the .
foregoing is a , true . and enact C,op r. of said I�Iearing , to tYkkz b � s.t of my
I$
�I� Srlity - I -
r L 1 F
tt
It
It I
'
1 IV
• i
L -
Ickr
i TOMN Or GROTON .
f Publ i.c Hearing
Tuesday , July 10 , 1984
T014N BOARD ( 'present ) OTHERS PRESENT
Teresa Robinson; Supervisor Colleen Pierson , Town Clerk
Ellard Sovocool* Gary Wood , Tourn Zoning Officer
Donald Cummings' LelandCornel. ius , Highway Super -
Gordon Van Benschotenok intendent
Joseph Graham Jack Fitzgerald , Town Attorney
Teresa Robinson , Supervisor , opened the Public Hearing with the
reading of the attached Public Notice , for the purpose of amending the
Torn of Groton Land Use and Developement Code ,
T . Robinson called for any questions or remarks pertaining to the
Amended Code . Since there were no responses the Hearing was closed .
. . - 'y ` '
11MARGAR .ET A . PAL` ERE DO CERTIFY that .T. took the minutes of the Public
Hearing held in the Town of Groton , Tuesday , July 1. 0 , 1984 and the foregoing
is a true and exact copy of said Hearing , to the best of my ability .
0