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Council seeks clarity before approving right-of-way for fiber company
Summary
Edison council members questioned whether Ordinance 2280-2026, authorizing right-of-way for a fiber-optic provider, could facilitate data-center connections and asked administration to produce BPU application details and bandwidth/capacity information before Wednesday's meeting.
Edison Township council members asked the administration to provide more information before acting on Ordinance 2280-2026, which would authorize a fiber‑optic company to use municipal rights-of-way.
At the June 22 work session, a council member asked whether the ordinance would permit the company to support residential, commercial or data‑center uses. “If it is for data center, then I won't be supporting this,” the council member said, citing concerns about data‑center growth and local economic impacts tied to artificial‑intelligence developments. Administration staff responded that the ordinance authorizes the infrastructure necessary to run fiber through the public right‑of‑way but that the company’s specific customers were not clear from the application on file.
Business Administrator (unnamed) told the council the provider has been approved by the state Board of Public Utilities as an entity allowed to work in the right‑of‑way, but said the BPU application and the township backup did not explicitly describe whether the company planned to connect high‑volume data centers. The administration agreed to check the BPU application and report back to the council and said it would try to provide bandwidth and capacity details by Wednesday.
Council members asked for a definitive answer about whether the ordinance would facilitate data‑center traffic. One stated, “I need a definite answer. If it is for data center, then I won't be supporting this,” and repeated a request that staff identify the fiber’s capacity and whether the company’s use would be limited to residential service.
If the administration cannot produce the requested clarifications in time, council members said they may table the ordinance at the subsequent meeting. No vote was taken at the work session.
