LightPath To Brief Residents On Fiber Optic Installation Project In Newtown

NEWTOWN BOROUGH, PA — LightPath will detail its plans this week to install underground fibre optic cables along Washington Avenue and State Street in Newtown Borough.

At a meeting scheduled for Thursday evening, representatives from company will provide residents the opportunity to review plans and address questions about the project, according to information posted by the borough.

Residents can find more information about the project at
LightPath's webpage — click.lpmarketing.lightpathfiber.com/NewtownPA

The meeting is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. at the America Legion Post, 41 Linden Avenue, Newtown, on Thursday, May 28.

According to information obtained by the borough, PennDOT has given LightPath the permits it needs to install fiber optic cables through the borough.

Construction is expected to include directional boring and related excavation activities, which would be confined to the PennDOT right-of-way either on the sidewalk or in the grassy area next to the sidewalk, borough officials said.

The work is slated to take place along the north side of Washington from the borough line to State Street, the west side of South State Street from Washington to Centre and then down Centre Avenue to the township line.

The fiber optic lines are being installed throughout Lower Bucks County in connection with a new data center being built in Falls Township. Data centers are facilities used to house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommunications and storage systems and are needed to handle the large amounts of data needed to operate artificial intelligence.

The node slated to be installed in the borough is coming into town from the east and is one of many that will be going in up and down the East Coast connecting data centers to its users, borough officials related.

The project first came to light at the council's May agenda meeting when borough manager Craig Totaro briefed council and the public on what he had been able to find about about the work being planned after seeing construction markings on the sidewalks.

At the meeting, council members expressed frustration over the lack of notification provided to the borough and its residents and said they would be asking the company to organize a meeting to brief the public on the project.

Following the agenda meeting, the borough reached out to State Senator Steve Santarsiero and State Rep. Perry Warren and were able to secure a pause in the project while additional coordination occurs with PennDOT, the borough, and project representatives.

“The Borough was not provided accurate advance notice regarding the initiation and timing of the work activities and has expressed concerns regarding project communication, resident notification, traffic impacts, emergency access coordination, and the scope of work occurring on residential properties,” the borough said in a posting on its website.

“The Borough is requesting improved public communication and coordination measures prior to any resumption of work activities, including a public information session, direct notification to affected property owners and residents, and the provision of detailed project information and schedules.”

At the council's May meeting, several residents expressed concern over the lack of communication to impacted property owners. Property owners received no notice regarding the project, route, timing, construction methods, or potential impacts to their properties, they said.

“I have requested that LightPath provide the fiber route across all of Bucks County. This project does not only affect Newtown Borough, but all the municipalities in Bucks County,” said borough resident Terry Kiely. “Are the officials being notified or are they going to walk out their door one day to see their yards dug up for these fiber-optic lines?”

Another resident, Laura Shepherd, said the project should be rerouted around the historic borough, which was originally planned and laid out by William Penn's surveyor, Thomas Holme, in 1864.

"The historic integrity and character of Newtown Borough needs to be protected," said Shepherd. "There are many areas in Bucks County where fiber infrastructure could reasonably be routed without it impacting nationally recognized communities of historic significance, like Newtown Borough."

Residents are requesting that any installation should be confined to the public roadway — not private properties.

"Amazon is not a public utility company," said Nancy Terry. "It is a private, for-profit corporation seeking to install fiber infrastructure to support a data center they are constructing in Bucks County. As many companies are now rapidly pursuing data center development, this raises an important question of precedent: if fiber routes for private data center infrastructure are permitted through a historically significant community such as Newtown Borough for one company, will future companies be afforded the same access? And if not, on what basis would distinctions be made?

“We cannot expect Amazon, Lightpath, or even PennDOT to prioritize preservation of Newtown Borough in the same way that local residents and elected officials do. That responsibility rests with those entrusted to represent and protect the interests of our community,” said Terry.