History & Status of Talkie in Symphony Village

Talkie (‘Talkie’) Communications, based in Chestertown, MD is a cable operator/installation company supporting television, Internet and phone services. The SV Board has been in contact with Talkie since Spring 2021 about plans to install fiber optics in Symphony Village. It is a complicated discussion with negotiations required on important and costly issues. The Board authored an article in the June 2021 Libretto and a report at the monthly Board HOA meeting about Talkie.  

They completed their network in Northbrook and installed the fiber in the front yard utility right of way. The construction permitting and inspection was conducted by the Town of Centreville. Talkie’s intention was to proceed south on 213, however, since there is no underground conduit in the roadbed, they must suspend the system on the utility poles. This replacement is costly; consequently, they have applied for a grant. Once completed, that installation will allow a pathway to Symphony Village. If this work is not possible, Talkie stated they could go east to hook up with 301 south to enter SV.

In terms of installation in our community that is where it gets difficult. Two options were discussed – coming through the utility right of way we all have in our front yards like Northbrook with permits and inspection handled by the Centreville Public Works Department. Talkie claims that would cost $1,000,000 to complete. They would have to be careful of our irrigation system and repair any breaks from their fiber installation. This also gets difficult as Talkie wants to provide repair to our irrigation system, conflicting with our contract with Montgomery Irrigation.

The other option discussed is going through common area in the rear around our perimeter and up all swales to make the linkage. This they claim is $500,000 coming through our SV common area which would be faster and cheaper for them. SV, however, to protect ourselves would need to have a legal agreement/SV construction permit developed outlining their responsibilities and rights under a non-exclusive easement. As well, we would need a site survey as part of the document that identifies the metes and bounds of common area that they would have access to for system maintenance in perpetuity etc. This would need to be done by a licensed surveyor. Also, since it is our property, we would need to hire a project manager to protect our interests during the plan and design development working along with Talkie and during construction functioning as our inspector, since the Town will not provide this service, and daily site inspection for private property. Our staff is busy enough and has no experience with this type of project. We “guesstimated” this could cost us $50-70,000 to cover ourselves for legal and engineering assistance and it could be more.

We discussed this plan and estimated cost with Talkie but they said they could not afford it. As we said earlier, Talkie said it would cost $1,000,000 to install fiber in the public utility right of way that goes through all of our front yards with the town overseeing construction and $500,000 to go through our space. They were not interested in agreeing to cover our costs mentioned above for the technical and legal assistance we need to allow a utility to come through our common area which would only add only 10-14% to their price.

Another factor that became a concern later in 2021 is we have had several major irrigation mainline breaks in the common area. We have no drawings from the developer to tell us where these lines run. While a very knowledgeable resident attempted to figure this out by surface observation, we were off by feet as evidenced by one major break that happened twice. If we were to allow the fiber to be installed in the rear common areas, and we had more aged irrigation mainline breaks, the excavation we needed to repair them could cut the fiber. This would disrupt service (high-speed internet, phone and tv) in SV for residents and the clubhouse. Talkie may want us – in any negotiations to use this space – to be responsible for the cost of this repair.

On another note - in the agreement presented by Talkie -- SV would have no say in what company Talkie may sell their business to (should that occur) nor the new owner’s ability to do work within the perpetual right of way we would have given to them. Could this be Breezeline (AKA Atlantic Broadband)?

So, you can see the difficulty in reaching an agreement. The Board is responsible for doing what is best for Symphony Village. Our infrastructure is safer and the cost of any irrigation system damage would be covered by Talkie and our costs are much lower (possibly our cost to have Montgomery Irrigation spot check the work,) if we require them to go through the front yard utility right of way – that is the reason that easement is there.

We all hope they come to SV; we have said there would be plenty of new patrons, but we can’t put the community at risk to lessen the cost for Talkie. We will keep everyone apprised of any further details. We hope they get a grant to come down 213 which saves them money which could be spent on proper installation in our community.

Thank you for your patience.

Symphony Village Board of Directors