Technology has passed by Thomson Township laws

A lot of things have changed since 1999, the last time Thomson Township approved a comprehensive plan, and technology and the internet is at the top of the list.

There were no iPhones — they wouldn’t come out for another eight years. Heck, the first flip phone had hit the market only three years before that.

Google was available ... as a beta site. The number of internet users worldwide had reached 150 million; today it’s approximately 4.4 billion. Users accessed the internet through phone lines, and it took forever to upload anything, especially if there were photos involved.

Ancient history, right?

Not for some parts of Thomson Township, where internet connectivity is so bad that township supervisor Jason Paulson and his family used to wait until they got to their cabin in Wascott, Wisconsin to upload photos to Shutterfly.

Now they don’t have to do that — thanks to an AirFiber tower at the Nopeming site on the hill near the Dry Dock — in direct line of sight from their home. AirFiber sends its service through the air, the same way that television and radio broadcasts do with one important difference: with the internet, it’s a two-way communication.

Ironically, the same tower that has given the Paulson family modern internet access wouldn’t be allowed in Thomson Township under the current township ordinance.

Retired voice data network engineer John Bergman has been campaigning for a change to the tower ordinance for years. A rural Thomson Township resident who has a ham radio tower in his backyard, Bergman currently goes to the Cloquet Public Library every week to check his email and do online research, because he can’t get affordable, reliable internet service to his home.

Bergman had served on two different tower study committees for Thomson Township over the past two or three years, but after very few committee meetings, sparsely attended at that, the final committee was dissolved this spring in favor of making the issue part of the comprehensive plan process.

That made sense, said Bergman. After all, a good comprehensive plan becomes the guiding policy for community development, and the zoning and subdivision ordinances — and other land use regulations — must be based on this plan. A comprehensive plan can affect public policies on everything from land use and housing, to transportation and recreation, to utilities. Internet access falls under the category of utilities.

Paulson said he suggested the move to the township board because he wants to see more community members involved in the discussion.

“Some folks can be resistant to change, especially when it comes to ugly towers,” Paulson said. “But the reality is technology has changed, internet is wireless, and we have to embrace some level of tower-building in our community.”

Internet technology has changed in the last 20 years. Although some companies still use a telephone line or DSL (CenturyLink), others (like Mediacom) use high-speed cable, and companies like AirFiber send the signal back and forth through the air. Satellite internet is also available. Each has its strengths and weaknesses, and cost.

Were the laws different, Bergman could probably work with an internet service provider like AirFiber and bring its signal into his home and other homes in his neighborhood.

He said satellite internet is expensive and doesn’t work well because many business mainframe computers will quit communicating because the comparatively long lagtime (to send the signal) convinces the mainframe that no one is there.

Companies like CenturyLink and Mediacom that have to lay cable in order for a home to connect either don’t want to go to rural housing, where the distances between homes is far greater and customer density lower, or the cost to connect is exorbitant.

Bergman said he met with the Comp Plan consultants during the stakeholder interviews in August, and he attended the open brainstorming session, where the subject of internet did come up, but so did the lack of senior-friendly housing, transportation, the changing nature of the rural area as more people move in, and many other issues, strengths and weaknesses.

Bergman worries that the debate over internet access will get buried, and that won’t be good for him, or his neighbors and their three children, who currently pay more than $400 a month for cell phone bills because they have to use phone hotspots to get WiFi in their home.

“Broadband access, internet access is a de facto utility,” Bergman said. “It’s important for education, for business. Our township says it wants to develop more business in town. It’s also important for work-at-home people, and obviously it’s important for entertainment.”

He pointed out that the school makes sure every student has a device like an iPad or a laptop to do homework on, but they can’t ensure that every family has access to high-speed internet.

“It puts families that don’t have high-speed internet connections and their kids at great disadvantage,” Bergman said. “Instead, they have to stick around school or go somewhere they can access WiFi.”

Paulson said he wants everyone in the township to have access to affordable internet service.

“I think every elected official should be doing whatever they can to improve internet access,” Paulson said. “And Esko has black holes, $350,000 houses without high-speed internet, which makes a house worth less. We have beautiful residences that lack broadband internet access.”