Council Considers Mandating Electric Vehicle Charging Stations

East Lansing's City Council will hold a public hearing Tuesday on a draft law which, if passed, will require that some private property owners install charging stations for electric vehicles in their parking lots and parking garages.

The proposed Ordinance 1445 has been controversial, with supporters saying it promotes environmentalism and opponents saying it constitutes a governmental intrusion on private property ownership, one that favors wealthier citizens who use one particular type of transportation.

Planning Commission took up the matter at its February 13 meeting, voting unanimously to recommend approval on a somewhat different version than what City Council had sent to that body for consideration.

The draft version City Council sent to Planning Commission required that "each non-residential use of a property or combined residential with a non-residential use shall have one Level 2 or better charger installed in the parking lot and each multiple-family residential property with at least 50 required spaces shall have one Level 2 or better charger installed in the parking lot."

For every additional 50 spaces, another charger would be required. 

Level 2 chargers use a higher-output 240-volt power source, similar to those for ovens or clothes dryers. Charging times are much faster than with a Level 1 charging station, which uses a 120-volt connection.

At the suggestion of Mayor Pro Tem Erik Altmann, City Council required that two recenntly approved site plans include installation of EV charger as conditions of approval. One involved an addition at the St. Thomas Aquinas school and the other, a commercial redevelopment. In both cases, the applicants were not happy about the requirement but did not want to abandon their projects over this point.

One of the first things discussed by Planning Commission, when that group took up the proposed ordinance change, was the cost of installing and operating these chargers.

David Haywood, the Planning and Zoning Administrator told the Commission on February 13, “we spoke with our parking facilities administrator and got some basic understanding of what it cost for our purchase of Level 2 chargers, which is about $600, and the installation can vary substantially depending on its location and proximity to the power source.”

Haywood said it costs about $300 a year to supply electricity to the City’s charging station at the M.A.C. Avenue parking structure. Haywood explained that East Lansing has studied several different cities, specifically:

• Ann Arbor, where Haywood said the city does not have an ordinance but rather a program to encourage the use of electric vehicles in the city;
• Auburn Hills, which allows electric vehicle charging stations in all zoning districts;
• Atlanta, which Haywood said was an example of a city that saw a large-scale adoption of this kind of ordinance. Atlanta is looking at requiring charging stations in all two-family and townhome developments. Also, any garage facility would have to be equipped with charging stations. Atlanta is also looking at requiring a dedicated circuit in new buildings that could equip a Level 3 charger, which allows for faster charging.

Planning Commissioner Chris Wolf noted that some municipalities are defining chargers in their zoning codes. He asked whether East Lansing’s code currently allows chargers.

Haywood replied, “That’s an interesting question. I don’t know if we explicitly say we would allow them everywhere. I would think we would.”

Commissioner Wolf then turned his attention to the costs that East Lansing has experienced with the charging stations.

“I found it fascinating that to operate the City’s M.A.C. charger costs $330 for the entire year,” Wolf said. Calculating the cost of usage, he noted that “plugging a vehicle into one of them costs the owner about a dollar per hour of use, [and] this number would indicate the (M.A.C. Avenue) charger was used about 330 hours in a year, which is six hours a week.”

Concluded Wolf, “So, it’s basically not being used at all.”

He went on to say, “I’m uncomfortable with the proposal because of the requirement we’re putting on individual businesses. I would much rather let the market determine where this goes. It would be a no-brainer for [some] companies to do this without us putting a requirement on it.”

Commissioner Joseph Sullivan agreed with Wolf, saying, “There probably is an incentive for businesses to adopt this technology moving forward. I don’t think we need to regulate that.”

For his part, Commissioner Dale Downes disagreed, saying, “This (technology) is the future, it’s not cost prohibitive, and they can be monetized. Given all that, I’m in support of this proposal.”

Commissioner Wolf then made a motion (which he had provided in writing earlier, in an email) to amend the language of the ordinance to limit the requirement to multi-family residential properties with 50 parking spaces or more.

Wolf also moved an amendment to clarify some of the language in the ordinance, ultimately specifying that an exemption to the law could be requested if the developer or owner could show:

• “That the use of the charging station(s) would likely be low, due to the anticipated parking duration or similar considerations”;
• “That the expense of complying with this requirement would add significantly to the cost of the site plan so as to preclude the plan if this requirement was imposed”;
• “that the imposition of this requirement would constitute a governmental taking as defined by law.”

Wolf and Sullivan also suggested clarifying the language about when the ordinance would apply, specifying ultimately that it would “apply to each new site plan and to each revised or amended site plan which modifies the parking spaces on the property.”

Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend to City Council the amended ordinance.

The decision about the law now is in the hands of City Council. The public hearing will be Tuesday, March 26, at the meeting starting at 7 p.m. in City Hall’s courtroom upstairs. It is likely City Council will vote on the ordinance at that meeting.

Those wishing to comment on the draft ordinance can speak at the public meeting either during the “public comment” period at the start of the meeting or when the public hearing on Ordinance 1445 is called. Written comments can be sent to council@cityofeastlansing.com.