One dark January evening, Mike Ward was taking compost out to his backyard bin when he discovered a hole, a big hole with tubes sticking out and no protective fencing.
It was Allo Communications subcontractors at work, getting ready to run fiber through the neighborhood for a new internet, TV and telephone service option.
Last summer and fall, Allo installed 175 miles of fiber in southeast Lincoln and downtown, as the initial construction season of the company’s four-year effort to bring 1-gigabit service to every home and business in the city.
And that work left a trail of frustrated and concerned homeowners.
Cathy and Mike Ward, who bought their home in southeast Lincoln last fall, said they were blindsided by the work.
They don’t remember any door hanger, letting them know a contractor would be in the area. The unprotected hole was a hazard, and would have been even more troubling if they had children or a dog, Cathy Ward said.
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In addition, they certainly didn’t know the public easement, which runs across most lots in the city, would be the site of an Allo service box, or what Allo calls a structure.
It’s a “big, plastic green thing,†beside a beautiful white pine, and “sticks out like a sore thumb,†Cathy Ward said.
Ward got a $50 gift certificate for plantings to hide the box, but she would have preferred some warning, beyond a door hanger, of the intrusion and some input into where the box was placed.
“It feels like I was violated in a way. Allo is not really on my nice list,†Ward said.
Allo Communications President Brad Moline knows the work being done in backyards is invasive and can be frustrating. And Allo leaders are apologetic about problems, and will be replacing some of the subcontractors and working to improve communication, Moline said.
But the work is necessary. “We have to be behind every business and every home†in order to bring the cable to everyone across the city.
The work is done in stages, so the company has crews working in neighborhoods three to four times, generally over a six- to 14-week period, before an area is complete, he said.
That timetable assumes cold winter months don’t intervene.
Some recent complaints relate specifically to winter problems, where Allo stopped in the middle of projects when the ground froze.
The company’s contractors will be filling up holes, planting grass and returning those easement areas to usable condition this spring, Moline said.
Allo is putting its fiber primarily in easements, which is property, generally behind a home or business, that utilities can use without getting any extra permission from the city, explained Steve Huggenberger, an assistant city attorney.
Homeowners have little control over what goes into those easements, where utilities have the right to go in at any time to replace, repair and inspect equipment. So if a property owner has a fence, or a building, or a planting in the easement, they have it there "at their own risk,†he said.
Those in charge of utilities have said they do not want to disturb what people have in those easement areas, if they can avoid it. And all have expressed the intent to contact a landowner if something there will be disturbed, he said.
To the extent a utility damages homeowner property in the easement, the utility has no legal obligation to repair, replace or do anything, Huggenberger explained. However, virtually every company has said it will be responsible for the damage when it works in an easement, Huggenberger said.
Some Allo fiber may go in rights-of-way, areas on private property between the street and the sidewalk. The city owns this area and utilities must get permission from the city to work in a right-of-way, Huggenberger said.
Some residents in Allo’s path last year were philosophical about the mess progress can create.
Residents at Wellington Greens, a neighborhood at 70th and South streets, have seen flags and digging by Allo, the cable company, and Lincoln Electric System on their property over the past year.
“They come in, do their work, clean up and leave,†said Jim Davidson, association president. “It’s just the way it is."
What’s happening in southeast Lincoln over the past year will be duplicated in other neighborhoods over the next four years as Allo extends its fiber across the city.
The company will announce its presence as it moves into neighborhoods, said Moline.
This temporary construction is his least-favorite part of the business, Moline said. But this fiber should serve customers for the next 35 to 50 years, he said.
“The main thing is we appreciate the community’s patience,†he said.
