New life for Benicia broadband project

Options for bringing high-speed broadband to the Benicia (CA) Industrial Park will be presented to the City Council. No final action is expected, but the council could pursue building a state-of-the-art Internet network for Benicia businesses through a public-private partnership.

City officials say the project could help lure tomorrow's high-tech businesses to the aging industrial park along Interstate 680. A city report estimates the base cost of building a fiber-optic network -- which would deliver the most broadband capacity -- would be somewhere between $1.3 and $4 million. The city has earmarked $750,000 for the project -- somewhere between one-half and one-quarter of the total cost -- and hopes the amount would be a base on which to form a public-private partnership with other investors. The park and adjacent Arsenal area lack access to a full menu of commercial- and industrial-grade broadband facilities and services, a city report finds. This reduces the value of the city's commercial real estate inventory by making it less attractive to new or expanding businesses. The problem is common among California cities with older industrial areas, the report says. High-technology businesses will not locate or expand where broadband service is insufficient to their needs, leaving property owners with fewer options and cities with reduced revenues from jobs, sales and economic growth.