Fiber-Optic Company Agrees To Explore Alternative Routes Around Newtown

A fiber-optic cable company installing a new line through Lower Bucks County is pausing its plans to cut through Newtown Borough after an outcry from local residents and officials over property damage and threats to the town’s historic character.

Lightpath officials agreed to continue to pause work and review the options internally during a public meeting last Thursday evening at the American Legion Hall.

The meeting was organized by borough officials after numerous residents complained about the project in recent weeks.

The company, which has been using contractors to install fiber-optic equipment in 200-foot sections across the lower end of the county since at least January, recently crossed the Newtown Bypass.

Lightpath representatives stated they will now explore an alternative route that bypasses Newtown Borough entirely while still reaching a connection point in Newtown Township.

At the meeting, company officials stated that moving to an alternate route would require the assistance of municipal and state officials to expedite the review process and still meet project deadlines.

The company had previously secured permits from PennDOT and Newtown Township to run the lines through the underground conduit.

That plan in the borough required boring work within the right-of-way along the north side of Washington Avenue and the northbound lane of State Street.

Because the work was designated for PennDOT-controlled roadways, Lightpath was not required to secure permits from Newtown Borough.

Lightpath’s fiber-optic lines are used by numerous major companies, including an Amazon data center currently under construction in Falls Township, officials said.

The local work is also part of an effort to interconnect Lightpath’s system with Union Fiber and Data’s existing system, which it recently acquired.

Borough officials shared serious concerns, adding they were left in the dark about the scope of the project.

Borough Council President Emily Heinz said that Lightpath had originally proposed using Court Street, but the borough denied permission because the road is borough-owned.

By switching to state roads, Heinz said, “This path circumvented the borough in terms of having to let us know.”

Mayor Tara Grunde-McLaughlin warned Lightpath officials that the planned route would tear up roads and lawns while passing some of the oldest homes in the state.

A borough attorney attended the meeting to monitor resident complaints and consult with Lightpath representatives.

Rosemary Wuenschel, chief of staff for Democratic State Sen. Steve Santarsiero, said the senator only learned of the project through resident complaints.

Wuenschel stated that Santarsiero will submit an official request asking Lightpath to alter the project’s path to avoid Newtown Borough.

Residents objected to the project’s potential impact on the borough’s historic streetscape and mature trees. They urged the company to find another path.

“Go along the Newtown Bypass and through Terry Drive,” one resident suggested.

“We care a lot about this historic town and you risk ruining that,” another resident said.

Others questioned how the company allowed to begin the project without permission from the borough.

“We need to pay for all sorts of permits if we put up a fence,” a resident noted.

Lightpath officials said they are overseeing the contractors who are placing the cabling into underground tubes.

Residents said that crews recently struck one or two gas lines, causing leaks. The company’s contractors may have been involved in a winter water line break in Langhorne Borough that triggered a boil-water advisory.

Tensions flared when residents reported that contractors claimed they were working for the gas company while causing expensive damage to yards and a family’s outdoor lighting.

“I would have fired them on the spot,” a Lightpath foreman told the crowd in response to the complaints.