NORTHERN NEW ENGLAND TELEPHONE OPERATIONS, LLC
ORDER No. 25, 962
CRS 16-219
New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission
October 28, 2016
Petition
for Licenses to Maintain Utility Cables Over and Across
Public Lands and Waters of the State of New Hampshire
Order
Modifying Order Nisi Granting Licenses
Martin
P. Honigberg, Chairman
In this
order, the Commission modifies its prior order nisi
granting the request of Northern New England Telephone
Operations, LLC (FairPoint), for licenses under RSA 371:17 to
maintain existing telecommunications cable crossings over
public waters and/or state-owned lands, to exclude from that
order an existing crossing in Hampton that was previously
licensed by the Commission. We also address the request made
by a coalition of municipalities to include statutory
property taxation notice language in our crossing licenses,
and we decline to include such language based on the lack of
statutory authority to do so.
I.
PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
On
September 30, 2016, the Commission issued Order No. 25, 949
granting licenses to FairPoint to maintain 53 existing
crossings over public waters and/or state lands, pursuant to
RSA 371:17 (Crossings Order). The Crossings Order was issued
on a nisi basis to ensure that interested parties
would receive notice of it and have an opportunity to comment
or request a hearing prior to the specified effective date.
On October 12, 2016, Comments were filed by the Towns of
Barrington, Belmont, Holderness, Jefferson, Meredith,
Sunapee, and Waterville Valley, and the City of Laconia
(collectively, the Municipalities). On October 17, the Town
of Hampton (Hampton) filed its Comments and Written Request
for Hearing. On October 25, FairPoint filed a reply to the
Municipalities' Comments and a reply to the Hampton
filing. On October 26, the Municipalities filed a response to
FairPoint's reply to their Comments.
II.
POSITIONS OF THE PARTIES
The
Municipalities, with the exception of Holderness and
Meredith, are co-defendants in property tax litigation in
Merrimack County Superior Court regarding municipal
assessments on FairPoint's telephone poles and conduits
and its use and occupancy of municipal rights-of-way (the Tax
Litigation). See Northern New England Telephone
Operations, LLC d/b/a FairPoint Communications
- NNE v. Town of Acworth, et al...
