Seattle Cabinet[1].jpg

Utility cabinets in Seattle are decorated to give them an artistic flair. Portland plans a similar requirement.

(Portland Bureau of Transportation)

Portland is in the process of opening one more door to Google Fiber, drawing up new rules that would permit the company – and other telecommunications businesses – to install utility cabinets in the public right of way along the city's streets.

The proposed changes come with some limitations, though, designed to give the cabinets some artistic flair and to limit them primarily to larger commercial streets, keeping them out of residential neighborhoods. The Portland City Council is tentatively scheduled to consider the new rules in December.

Google Fiber wants to put 200 such cabinets – 2x2x4-feet each – around the city to create an ultra-high-speed, fiber-optic network that brings faster Internet connections to Portland homes. Google says the cabinets divide its fiber into small bundles that run to the individual homes it would serve.

Historically, Portland has not allowed such fixtures on public streets except in cases where utilities have applied for special permission, but Verizon, AT&T and Google have all asked for more latitude in where they can go.

Portland's new rules would generally allow these cabinets the benefit of the doubt on larger, commercial streets throughout the city, but restrict them along neighborhood streets, according to Alex Bejarano, the Portland Bureau of Transportation manager. PBOT has jurisdiction over the rights of way

"We tried to create something that people would support," Bejarano said of the plan.

Google Fiber announced in February that it was contemplating hyper-fast, "gigabit" Internet service in Portland and five suburbs -- Beaverton, Hillsboro, Gresham, Lake Oswego and Tigard – offering connections 100 times faster than typical broadband speeds today. The company says it could make a decision as soon as the end of this year.

Other communities already allow fiber cabinets like the ones Google wants to install.

In June, Portland approved lease agreements for much larger, 12x28x9-foot Google "fiber huts" that could be placed on public property. There would be fewer of these, however – perhaps 15 across the city. (The city also approved a franchise agreement with Google Fiber.)

Portland's proposed guidelines generally restrict utility cabinets to one per block on a first-come, first-served basis, though companies can apply for variances to install more. Bejarano said the city hopes companies will sometimes share cabinets, thereby reducing the number required.

An additional requirement would call on the companies to decorate the cabinets with an artistic wrap to improve their appearance. Bejarano said PBOT plans to work with the Regional Arts & Culture Council to design something appropriate for the city and the neighborhoods. He said similar programs in Seattle and Boise have produced good results.

"They actually do a pretty good job on these cabinets," Bejarano said. "They don't just become these boxes of infrastructure."

PBOT has the authority to set these rules on its own, according to Bejarano, but plans to take them to the City Council in search of broad support. The draft rules have also gone out to Portland neighborhood associations.

Linda Nettekoven of the Hosford-Abernethy Neighborhood District Association said her members in Southeast Portland had been concerned about the size and the location of the cabinets.

"The rules seem to take into consideration the main concerns/ideas we had earlier," Nettekoven told The Oregonian in an e-mail, though she said some neighbors remain concerned about the proliferation of commercial installations in the public right of way.

"We're trying to become walkable, vibrant, etc., with outside seating," she wrote, "and in many cases we have narrow sidewalks and we seem to be adding more and more gray metal boxes."

-- Mike Rogoway; twitter: @rogoway; 503-294-7699