Since June, crews have been drilling and micro-trenching along Lindero Canyon Road, Lakeview Canyon Road and Triunfo Canyon Road to lay conduit. By the end of September, the City of Westlake Village counted about 85% of that conduit installed, with roughly 2,800 linear feet of micro-trenching left on Triunfo and Lindero. The fiber itself is going into those conduits from October through December 2026.
None of that fiber is built to reach a front door. The network under those arterials links city halls and traffic signals, and the home connection that most residents picture when they hear "fiber" depends on a contract that no one has signed yet. Westlake Village is the furthest along of the five cities building this network, so it is also the first city waiting on that contract.
What the trench on Lindero Canyon Road connects
The project is the Las Virgenes-Malibu Council of Governments' Regional Smart Cities Fiber Network. The council is a joint powers authority for Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Hidden Hills, Malibu and Westlake Village. According to the City Manager's September 30, 2026 update, the network is designed to provide "conduit and fiber backbone along many arterial streets to connect all five LVMCOG City Halls and many traffic signals." Engineers call this middle-mile fiber. It is the trunk line. Connections to individual homes, known as last-mile service, are a separate build.
The trunk is paid for with LA Metro Measure M money, not city funds. MasTec won the construction contract, which the council's governing board approved in January 2026. Accenture oversees the work as project and construction manager. The groundbreaking was held on April 9, 2026, on Agoura Road in front of Westlake Village City Hall. Hidden Hills puts the full project at more than 38 miles of fiber across the five cities.
Construction in Westlake Village started June 8 with site preparation and utility potholing. Horizontal directional drilling began on Lindero Canyon Road on June 16. City staff approved the encroachment permit in coordination with MasTec, Accenture and the City Traffic Engineer, with the goal of avoiding impacts to the Pure Water Project schedule.
Westlake went first, and the progress numbers show it
The project began in Westlake Village, and the city's lead held through the summer. A progress presentation covering work through August 15, 2026 showed the five cities at very different stages.
| City | Progress through Aug. 15, 2026 | Status in Malibu's Sept. 22 notice |
|---|---|---|
| Westlake Village | 98.98% | Nearly complete |
| Hidden Hills | 93.51% | Nearly complete |
| Calabasas | 59.13% | Under construction |
| Agoura Hills | 0.00% | Nearly complete |
| Malibu | 0.00% | Work starting in October |
The August presentation and the City of Malibu's September notice were written about five weeks apart, which explains why Agoura Hills moves from zero to nearly complete. Westlake Village's own September 30 figure of about 85% of conduit installed is lower than the August percentage. That 85% is the most recent number the city has published for its own streets.
The tail end of the regional build is in Malibu. About 8,000 linear feet of fiber is going in there from October through December 2026, and work on Malibu Canyon Road in unincorporated county territory is expected to run through March 2027. In Westlake Village, the city expects to finish the trunk months before the regional network is complete, which leaves the city waiting on the next step.
The step between the backbone and your driveway
The council asked fiber internet providers for proposals, received two, and interviewed them on May 26, 2026. Cityside Fiber was named the preferred provider for the region. On June 16, the council's board authorized its executive director to begin talks with Cityside about operating, maintaining and managing the middle-mile network.
Those talks are about running the trunk. Home service is a separate negotiation. The city manager's report describes long-term agreements of this kind as needing to balance "maximizing public benefit and connectivity while negotiating terms that make operational and financial sense." To help with that, the council hired The Broadband Group, a firm that has handled fiber contracts for master-planned cities and other municipalities. The board approved that agreement on August 18, and Westlake Village staff held their first meeting with the firm on September 17.
The report lists the city's next step as "entering into discussions with Cityside for implementation of last-mile fiber in the community." Cityside has told the council it is interested in extending service to member cities once the regional project is done. In Hidden Hills, the city's July construction notice says the plan is for the council to contract with a private provider to bring fiber service to residents after construction ends.
Westlake Village has put money and policy behind the effort. The City Council named last-mile fiber a 2026 Council Goal and set aside $95,000 in the FY 2026-27 budget to facilitate it. The city's Economic Development Committee ranked last-mile fiber installation as an economic development strategy earlier this year. No home-service agreement, launch date, coverage map or price for Westlake Village households has been published. City staff say they will bring future updates on last-mile agreements to the Administrative Committee.
What Cityside's existing service shows
Cityside describes itself as an Irvine-based company that builds and maintains fiber networks and sells service in partnership with cities. Its service area page lists these communities as currently served:
- Irvine
- Lake Forest
- North Tustin
- Mission Viejo
- Dana Point
- Tustin
- Laguna Hills
- San Juan Capistrano
Woodland Hills is on its "Coming Soon" list, along with Rancho Santa Margarita, Corona, Oceanside, Vista, Carlsbad and Laguna Niguel. All of the current service areas are in Orange County. Woodland Hills is the closest to the Conejo Valley on the list, and it is not one of the five council cities.
The Cityside home page lists plans in those markets from 300 Mbps at $65 a month to 1 Gig at $80, 2 Gigs at $95 and 5 Gigs at $150, with matching upload and download speeds. These prices show what the company charges where it already operates. They are not an offer for Westlake Village, where no terms exist yet.
Rancho Santa Margarita shows what a Cityside neighborhood build looks like at street level. Its March 2026 construction notice described the process in this order:
- Crews locate existing underground utilities and leave multi-colored chalk marks on streets and sidewalks.
- About one to two weeks later, residents get advance notice of construction.
- "No Parking" signs go up at least 72 hours before micro-trenching starts, and door hangers explain the work.
- Crews cut a trench about 2 inches wide in the street, with work in sidewalks and parkways where needed.
- On active streets, parking is restricted from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. while work moves along.
- Disturbed areas are restored to city standards.
The rules for your street were adopted in June
If home fiber comes to Westlake Village, the city has already set how it will be cut into residential streets. On June 24, 2026, the City Council adopted Ordinance No. 315-26. The September report says it was written in anticipation of last-mile installations, to set expectations on street cuts after paving or slurry work and on micro-trenching layouts on residential streets.
The ordinance text presented to the council defines a microtrench as no more than 4 inches wide and between 12 and 26 inches deep. It defines a "newly paved street" as one built, rebuilt, slurry sealed, resurfaced, overlaid or rehabilitated within the past five years. Digging into a newly paved street is generally prohibited, but fiber micro-trenching is one of the listed exceptions. When a permit covers only fiber micro-trenching, the City Engineer must approve it unless the work would have a specific adverse effect on public health or safety.
The ordinance also sets where the trench goes:
"Trenching shall be located longitudinally on either side of the street within a consistent offset band designated by the City Engineer."
Crossings from one side of the street to the other must use existing crossings and facilities. Restoration methods have to keep water out and prevent reflective cracking. For work in a newly paved street, the conditions listed include a mill and overlay or inlay across the full width of all affected lanes and a slurry seal across the full width of the street. Each extends at least 25 feet in both directions from the cut, and restoration must match the existing roadway material.
This summary of a city ordinance is general information, not legal advice. Homeowners with a specific question about work in front of their property should check the adopted text with the city or a qualified professional.
For now, the Westlake Village portion of the trunk is in its fiber-placement phase on Lindero, Lakeview and Triunfo Canyon Roads through December, while the county segment on Malibu Canyon Road is expected to run through March 2027.
Fiber access is likely to become one more thing buyers ask about in Westlake Village, along with lot size and views. If you are thinking about how infrastructure like this fits into your plans for your home, Michael Bloom Homes follows these projects closely and is glad to talk through what is known so far. Schedule a Confidential Consultation.
