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Residents tell commissioners repeated fiber installs are damaging yards, raising safety worries
Summary
Two Dover Highlands residents told the Board of Medina County Commissioners that repeated fiber-optic installations are tearing up neighborhood yards, have hit utility lines and produce a regulatory gap between local and state authorities.
Two residents told the Board of Medina County Commissioners during public comment that multiple fiber-optic companies repeatedly dig up neighborhood easements to install lines and are creating safety and property impacts.
Doug Mays of 6279 Hooper Drive said his subdivision in Dover Highlands has been dug up three times in the last four years and residents expect at least two more installations. "They just keep coming in and digging everything up," Mays said, and he reported incidents in which contractors hit gas and electric lines.
Kelly Wood of 6136 Tynes Hill Way said a major gas line runs in front of her house and that accidental cuts can cause explosions and evacuations. "Safety is my big thing," Wood said, adding that sometimes contractors cover damage and homeowners later report gas smells.
Residents asked the commissioners whether county government can limit new installations or require different siting practices. Commissioners and staff responded that authority is limited. County officials told speakers the county can regulate work in the public right-of-way but generally does not have authority over private easements; state-level regulation also was characterized as limited. Mays said he was directed to the Public Utilities Commission and to his state representative; he said the PUC and other state offices had told him they lacked authority to stop the activity.
Commissioners said the pattern of multiple providers building overlapping fiber infrastructure across neighborhoods — sometimes subsidized by state programs — creates frustration but that no single local or state entity clearly has authority to ban additional construction. Commissioner Harrison said the Ohio General Assembly has not empowered the PUC with authority to restrict new fiber builds, and Commissioner Sweatick explained the county's jurisdiction is typically limited to roads and county-owned right-of-way. The board offered to assist residents in gathering information but did not take regulatory action at the meeting.
