Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Broadband topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
LAPAC links broadband and cell access to healthcare, emergency response and economic resilience
Summary
Members tied access to quality health care and economic opportunities to broadband and cellular coverage; suggestions included last‑mile incentives for local WISPs, streamlined permitting for predesignated cell sites, and exploring use of nearby peaks or golf-club parcels for towers.
Committee members said reliable broadband and cell service are essential to healthcare access, remote work and emergency response in Lake County. One member argued broadband enables telehealth access: "broadband is definitely... it gives us access to those medical specialists" and suggested last‑mile incentives to help local WISPs leverage middle‑mile infrastructure.
The group discussed streamlining permitting for cell infrastructure (with a preference for collocation and minimizing new towers), predesignating parcels, and the limited effectiveness of small‑cell deployments in a hilly, tree‑covered area. Members noted privately owned locations — such as a golf club site uphill from Kelseyville — as potentially useful locations for improved coverage, and raised federal constraints that limit local regulatory authority over tower siting.
