SPRING HILL, Fla. — Hernando County leaders say they are fielding dozens of complaints against a fiber optics company installing communication lines across Spring Hill.
Mark Hahn is one of them.
Hahn has lived in Spring Hill for about a decade now, and while he loves the idea of fiber optic cable coming to his neighborhood, but he and others have big complaints about how the job is getting done.
“We want to keep our quiet, pristine neighborhood as it is,” Hahn said. “You can see all the holes that they put throughout my property. And they dug it up. This has been dug up three times.”
County Commissioner John Allocco says the company, Open Infra, has all the proper permits, but he and his fellow commissioners have been fielding complaints for months now.
“We are trying to find out how we can make them be better. Better partners,” Allocco said.
Several neighbors have complained that Open Infra is creating an unsightly mess and doesn’t return property to its original condition. They also say the utility company has installed unsightly, noisy equipment in the right of way in front of their homes.
But when people call to complain?
“They are basically stonewalled,” Allocco said. “They reach out to the customer service people, and nobody responds to them.”
Some neighbors have also complained about even larger utility boxes that have their own cooling systems. They're loud enough, they say, that it keeps them up day and night.
“How would you like it?” said a frustrated Donna Berardo, who says she can hear the noise inside her home. “Put one in front of your house. See what happens.”
Open Infra’s Daniel Karn says, "We have had complaints, obviously, especially about the yards."
Karn says the company wants to be a good corporate neighbor, and that they’re trying to be responsive, but that sometimes work requires several phases. Some rights of way might appear unsightly for longer than people would like so they don’t have to repeatedly dig up the same areas, he said.
But if customers think the job is taking too long, he encourages people to call and let them know.
“If that's getting dug up and you're like, I didn't order anything, then you might get a little bit angry and obviously we don't want that,” Karn said. “But please call us and we will come out and fix it.”
10 Tampa Bay asked Open Infra specifically about those noisier utility boxes. They say they are currently looking for a quieter air cooling system and are willing to swap those out. But they ask people in those neighborhoods to be patient since the process can take several months.
Meanwhile, the public pressure might be starting to pay off.
Hahn says the box in front of his house will now be moved to a less conspicuous spot. He says he’s grateful for the help and hopes more of his neighbors will see similar relief soon.
“I think they need to get somebody to come out here and go through these neighborhoods and look and see where they can move these things. Where they're not going to be an eyesore,” Hahn said. “Where it's not going to look like our neighborhood has been commercialized.”