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Council approves Gateway Fiber Metro Act permit for mostly-underground residential broadband, conditioned on performance bond
Summary
Garden City’s council approved a Metro Act right-of-way permit for Gateway Infrastructure LLC (d/b/a Gateway Fiber) on April 20, with the permit conditioned on an acceptable performance bond or irrevocable letter of credit; Gateway representatives said builds will be primarily underground and emphasized resident outreach and restoration.
The Garden City City Council voted unanimously Apr. 20 to approve a Metro Act right-of-way permit application from Gateway Infrastructure LLC, doing business as Gateway Fiber, allowing the company to install fiber-optic infrastructure in public rights of way so long as the company provides an acceptable performance bond or irrevocable letter of credit before construction begins.
Staff framed the permit as governed by the Metro Act’s uniform permitting process and noted the city’s limited authority to deny an application absent demonstrable vendor misconduct. "What the Metro Act does is it created kind of a uniform safe harbor permitting process for use of the public right of way," staff said when presenting the item.
Gateway’s head of government affairs, Derek Lefert, told the council the company’s primary focus in Garden City will be residential service and that most installation will be underground. "It'll be all underground for the most part... and then all of our appurtenances are going to be flush mount, so they're not going to see pedestals," Lefert said, adding that the company emphasizes local communication and restoration practices and maintains a team dedicated to resolving complaints.
Council members pressed staff and the Gateway representative about how the city checks vendor track records and enforces remediation if restoration or performance problems arise. Staff said the building department and engineering will manage permits and bonds; if the city must use the bond to make repairs, the vendor is required to restore the bond amount. Lefert offered to provide a list of communities where Gateway has worked and identified an estimated start window of about 30 days, with a multi-phased build spanning roughly one to three years depending on how much of the area is already being served by competitors.
Council discussion and the final motion made the permit contingent on a performance bond or irrevocable letter of credit in an amount acceptable to the city manager prior to any construction. The motion passed 7-0.
What happens next: staff will coordinate permit and building-department requirements with Gateway and the company will be expected to provide the specified bond before work begins. Councilmembers requested follow-up details on precise work areas and a local point of contact for constituent complaints.
