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Salem looking to boost internet downtown

People walk in front of shops in downtown Salem in December. (Caleb Wolf/Special to Salem Reporter)

The city of Salem is considering laying internet infrastructure in downtown to either lease out or manage like a utility.

Since December, the city has been looking to hire a consultant to help officials determine whether it makes the most budgetary sense for the city to install metal piping and fiber optics and run the internet or charge a private company to run it.

“There are a lot of models in the country where leasing out the conduit and fiber is a good revenue model for cities,” said city Urban Development Director Kristin Retherford. “There are communities that operate it as a utility, but those are municipalities that already operate an electrical or a telephone utility and we don’t.”

Retherford said the idea is fueled by the growing density in downtown and the upcoming redesign of the downtown streetscape.

Developers are currently submitting ideas to build more apartments in downtown, such as a 148-unit complex proposed at the corner of Southeast Commercial and State Streets. And the downtown streetscape project will lead to pavement getting ripped up, Retherford said, so the city hoped to use the construction time to install the infrastructure.

The city remains undecided on whether to install the internet, Retherford said. She said the consultant would help them determine if installing the metal piping or the fiber – or just the metal piping alone – makes budgetary sense.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a done deal yet” to install internet, Retherford said.

A staff report published Wednesday ahead of a work session shows the city expects to interview consultants in February and have a final decision on the internet project by fall.

Have a tip? Contact reporter Troy Brynelson at 503-575-9930, [email protected] or @TroyWB.