In May 2015, following a referral from the Board of Supervisors on March 31, 2015, Department of Conservation and Development (“DCD”) staff presented to the Ad Hoc Committee on Sustainability (“Committee”)1 the new residential and non-residential 2013 California Green Building Standards Code requirements for electric vehicle supply equipment (“EVSE”), which became effective statewide on July 1, 2015. The Committee provided direction to staff for developing local amendments to the 2013 California Green Building Standards Code for County adoption.
At the September 14, 2015 Committee meeting, the Committee required potential amendments, directed staff to draft additional amendments, and approved a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors on the matter. The proposed changes to the state-wide requirements are summarized as follows:
Changes for new multi-family buildings:
- Increase the required number of Electric Vehicle Charging Stations ("EVCS") to five percent of the total number of parking spaces provided, where three percent is the minimum required in the State Code;
- Require a minimum of one EVCS for every new multi-family building (three or more units) as opposed to State Code which requires no EVCS for multi-family buildings with fewer than 17 units;
- Require that EVSE be installed for each EVCS in addition to the electrical infrastructure required by the State Code.
Changes for new non-residential buildings:
- Increase the required number of EVCS to six percent of total number of parking spaces provided, where three percent is the minimum required in the State Code;
- Required number of EVCS in new construction shall provide fully operational EVSE as opposed to State Code which requires electrical infrastructure only;
- Require a minimum of one EVCS for every parking area associated with a new commercial building as opposed to State Code which requires no EVCS for parking areas of 50 or fewer parking spaces.
County Counsel reviewed DCD’s draft and prepared a final ordinance to amend the 2013 California Green Building Code Standards Code to establish electric vehicle parking and charging station standards. The final draft is attached (Exhibit A).
After the ordinance is introduced, the Board of Supervisors must schedule a noticed public hearing to adopt the ordinance. DCD staff recommends the public hearing to adopt the ordinance take place on Tuesday, December 8, 2015 at 9:00 a.m. This would allow the ordinance to be available for public inspection for at least 15 days prior to adoption, as required by Government Code Section 20022.6.
1The Ad Hoc Committee on Sustainability is composed of Supervisors John Gioia and Federal D. Glover. Note that Supervisor Glover was not in attendance at the March-September meetings.
Without adopting the proposed local amendments the County will continue to adhere to the State mandatory standards for electric vehicle infrastructure.
Jason Crapo, Director of Building Inspection, presented the staff report.
Chair Gioia noted that Contra Costa is the first county to propose a local ordinance regarding standards for electric vehicle parking and charging stations. The county ordinance would provide for more Electric Vehicle Charging Stations (EVCS) than is mandated by the recently adopted State code. He noted that the State law requires the wiring to be installed for the EVCS, while the County ordinance would require actual installation of the charging unit. He clarified that the ordinance applies to new building construction.
Chair Gioia has been in discussions with Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) regarding the installation of EVCS units in existing locations. PG&E has an application before the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to fund via the electric bill the installation of EVCS units. He read supporting comments from PG&E into the record (attached).
The Supervisors discussed the number of parking spaces in residential and commercial lots that would be required to have an EVCS. As presented today, the ordinance would require one EVCS for multi-family residential lots with 3 or more units, versus the state mandate of 17 or more units. This is to fill in a gap in the state model -currently there are regulations for a single-family home and for multi-family units of 17 or more.
The Supervisors discussed the calculations for the number of charging units relative to the number of total parking spaces in nonresidential lots. All concurred that the designation of 1 charging unit per 1-10 parking spaces should be amended to be 1 charging unit per 5-10 parking spaces.
The Supervisors discussed the appropriateness of the designated number of spaces in regard to businesses of a transitory nature, such as a stand-alone gas station or convenience store or fast food restaurant, in which the customer is expected to be on the site 30 minutes or less. (A full recharge is approximately one hour at this time). Mr. Crapo will further investigate local trends.
Supervisor Piepho noted that grants may be available from the Bay Area Air Quality Management Board.
DIRECTED staff to return to the Board on November 17, 2015 with an amended version of the proposed ordinance that addresses the Board's recommendations regarding numeric thresholds and possible exemptions raised by the Supervisors today, with additional background regarding the usage history and projected needs of the public for electric vehicle charging stations.