Nevada County Broadband Program

Nevada County Broadband Program

The proposed program would expand access to broadband technology throughout Nevada County and the incorporated communities of Grass Valley, Nevada City, and the Town of Truckee. Installation of fiber optic cable by a variety of potential methods (e.g., underground via directional boring, plowing, and trenching; microtrenching; aerial installation) is evaluated at a programmatic level in the EIR. The program area includes public and private roads and previously disturbed and developed areas. The program also includes lateral lines that could be installed between public or private roadways and individual businesses or residences to enable service. While the countywide program would install new fiber conduit predominantly underground and, where existing conduit exists, new fiber could be installed in existing conduit. In some circumstances, fiber optic conduit could be installed under roadways where space is limited along road shoulders. Access to the new conduits would be provided by installing access boxes along a proposed route for an individual project. Where topography or underground substrate could impede construction of subsurface fiber optic lines, projects would install aboveground fiber optic line that would utilize existing or newly constructed utility poles. The objective of this EIR is to achieve compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act for the program in advance such that individual fiber projects can take advantage of state and federal grant funding programs.

Grass Valley, Nevada City, Truckee

Nevada

Citywide, Countywide, Unincorporated

California Air Resources Board (ARB), California Department of Conservation (DOC), California Department of Fish and Wildlife, North Central Region 2 (CDFW), California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), California Department of Parks and Recreation, California Department of Transportation, District 3 (DOT), California Department of Transportation, Division of Aeronautics (DOT), California Department of Transportation, Division of Transportation Planning (DOT), California Department of Water Resources (DWR), California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (OES), California Highway Patrol (CHP), California Native American Heritage Commission (NAHC), California Natural Resources Agency, California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), California Regional Water Quality Control Board, Central Valley Sacramento Region 5 (RWQCB), California State Lands Commission (SLC), Central Valley Flood Protection Board, Department of Toxic Substances Control, Office of Historic Preservation, Sierra Nevada Conservancy, State Water Resources Control Board, Division of Drinking Water, State Water Resources Control Board, Division of Water Quality, State Water Resources Control Board, Division of Water Rights

Other (Fiber optic infrastructure)

Use Permit, Encroachment permit

Aesthetics, Agriculture and Forestry Resources, Air Quality, Biological Resources, Cultural Resources, Cumulative Effects, Drainage/Absorption, Energy, Flood Plain/Flooding, Geology/Soils, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Growth Inducement, Hazards & Hazardous Materials, Hydrology/Water Quality, Land Use/Planning, Mandatory Findings of Significance, Mineral Resources, Noise, Population/Housing, Public Services, Recreation, Schools/Universities, Solid Waste, Transportation, Tribal Cultural Resources, Utilities/Service Systems, Vegetation, Wetland/Riparian, Wildfire