CITY OF ENCINITAS CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT Meeting Date: April 10, 2013

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1 CITY OF ENCINITAS CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT Meeting Date: April 10, 2013 TO: VIA: FROM: Mayor and City Council Gus Vina, City Manager Richard Phillips, Deputy City Manager SUBJECT: Consideration of Adoption of Resolution Expressing the Intent to Consider Use of Portions of City Property for an Electric Vehicle Fast-Charging Plaza Demonstration Project. BACKGROUND: The City of Encinitas is the owner of a 9,800 square foot portion of real property at the north east corner of Vulcan Avenue and E Street. The site is part of the larger civic center parcel and developed as a public parking lot designated for overflow City Hall patrons parking (Attachment A ). The site was a former service station prior to the City s purchase of the land in In 2009, the former service station structure was demolished and the site developed into a public parking lot containing 24 parking stalls. The Clinton Foundation was founded in 2001 by former President William J. Clinton. The Foundation s mission is to improve global health, strengthen economies, promote health and wellness, and protect the environment by fostering partnerships among governments, businesses, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and private citizens. A major initiative of the Clinton Foundation is the Clinton Climate Initiative. The initiative targets root causes of climate change using the successful partnership model of other Clinton Foundation initiatives to facilitate and develop solutions to help address the challenges of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through promoting low or no carbon alternative transportation. The City was approached in 2012 by representatives of the Clinton Foundation and a working group consortium to introduce the concept of a multi-station, electric vehicle (EV) fast-charging facility project. The working group conducted site visits in the targeted I-5 north corridor in San Diego and Orange Counties to evaluate sites and assess agencies interest in considering an EV Fast-Charging Plaza demonstration project. The City-owned parking lot at Vulcan Avenue and E Street is considered a favorable location for the EV Fast-Charging Plaza demonstration project and a letter to the Mayor requesting the City to consider a potential lease arrangement for use of the property is contained as Attachment B. 04/10/2013 Item #07 Page 1

2 ANALYSIS: The objective of the EV Fast-Charging Plaza demonstration project is to design and deploy an economically viable fast-charging facility that will be used as a pilot project model for other deployments. The working group is composed of non-profit and public firms whose business model for an EV Fast-Charging Plaza entails a facility that includes multiple fast-charging stations, on-site electrical generation and storage infrastructure, a rental fleet of EVs (similar to the Car2Go service implemented in the City of San Diego) and a retail service facility to provide ancillary services such as coffee, snacks, internet services and staffing for operations. Facilities on an EV Fast-Charging Plaza would include placement of a modular building for the retail and services facility, electrical generation (solar panels) and electrical transformer and storage facilities. The working group is seeking funding from the California Energy Commission for implementation of the project and seeks to have a site designed for the pilot project. Resolution provides the City s authorization of intent to consider a short-term lease for an EV Fast-Charging Plaza demonstration project at the City Hall overflow parking lot and the City, as the owner of the property, authorizes the working group to submit local permitting applications for land use review and permitting for an EV charging facility on the site. If terms of a site use between the parties are achieved, a lease agreement or Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) would return for Council s approval. FISCAL AND STAFF IMPACTS: Terms of a proposed lease or MOU would need to be negotiated. Revenues are anticipated to be modest. RECOMMENDATION: Consider adoption of Resolution expressing intent to consider use of portions of City property for an Electric Vehicle Fast-Charging Plaza demonstration project. ATTACHMENTS: Attachment A Attachment B City Hall overflow parking lot site map Correspondence to Mayor Barth from Stephen Crolius, Transportation Program Director, dated January 17, 2013 Attachment C Resolution /10/2013 Item #07 Page 2

3 E D S t S S V V u u l l c c a a n n A A v v e e E E S t Subject property C o r n i s h D r City Hall Overflow Parking Lot DISCLAIMER: This map should not be used for Engineering, Survey, or Site-Specific Analysis. Every reasonable effort has been made to assure the accuracy of the data provided; nevertheless, some information may not be accurate. The City of Encinitas assumes no liability or responsibility arising from the use of or reliance upon this information. - Map Coordinates: Stateplane NAD83 Feet, CA Zone 6 - Parcel lines are not survey accurate, and some parcels can be positionally off up to +/- 40 feet - Photo flight dates: July inch pixel resolution. Digital true color. - Orthophoto and Topo positional accuracy meet the precision adequate to support National Map Accuracy Standards for 1" = 100' mapping. Feet /10/2013 Item #07 Page 3

4 January 17, 2013 Mayor Teresa Barth City of Encinitas 505 S. Vulcan St. Encinitas CA Dear Mayor Barth: On June 19th last year, my project partner Angus Clark and I met with Mr. Vina and members of City staff to discuss a project we are sponsoring related to electric vehicles. The project, formally known as the Electric Vehicle Fast-Charging Plaza Project, entails demonstration of a technically and economically optimized charging facility that we believe can materially promote mainstream adoption of electric cars. The Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) acts as an orchestrator of tangible projects that showcase good ideas that, if applied widely enough, could lead to meaningful reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. CCI s Transportation Program has a major focus on electric vehicles. We believe EVs could penetrate the automotive market much more quickly than is commonly appreciated. Our EV-oriented efforts are directed toward eliminating barriers that stand in the way of this outcome. The barriers that relate to obtaining a sufficiency of on-board electrical power ( range anxiety, the multi-unit dwelling problem, etc.) could all be addressed through a network of fast-charging service plazas. The hypothesis we propose to test is that optimized stations can generate a favorable return on capital and are therefore appropriate recipients of private- and public-sector investment. The membership of our Project Working Group consists of EVOasis (of which Mr. Clark, mentioned above, is the founder); the Electric Power Research Institute; the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences; Fuji Electric; San Diego Gas & Electric; and Three Squares, Inc. We have determined that the Interstate 5 corridor in northern San Diego or southern Orange County would be a favorable location for a demonstration facility. During the meeting with Mr. Vina, we learned that the City of Encinitas owns a lot on Vulcan Avenue that could possibly be made available for the use of our Project. I am writing now to provide formal indication of the Project s interest in this option. The lot has several attributes that make it attractive from our perspective. One, of course, is its proximity to Interstate 5. A second is the fact that it is just a block from the Coaster Station. This opens up the possibility that the charging plaza could be integrated with an EV car-sharing hub. The Project is being conducted on a not-for-profit basis. We intend to seek support for the demonstration facility s capital and operating costs from public-sector agencies. It is our hope, therefore, that the City would lease the lot to the Project at a nominal annual rate. The Project would bear the cost of all leasehold improvements. At the end of the demonstration period (currently anticipated to be two years from the date of commissioning), the Project would be prepared 04/10/2013 Item #07 Page 4

5 Mayor Teresa Barth Page 2 to work with the City on a transfer to a business entity interested in continuing operation of the plaza; or to restore, at Project expense, the site to its original condition. Vulcan Avenue is one of several sites we are assessing. Our intention is to complete site evaluation next month and to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with a site donor in advance of submitting an application for funding to the California Energy Commission in the spring. Lease execution could occur in the same time frame as the commitment of project funding. Please let me know what steps we can take with the City to allow full consideration of our request. Sincerely, Stephen H. Crolius Transportation Program Director, Clinton Climate Initiative 04/10/2013 Item #07 Page 5

6 RESOLUTION A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ENCINITAS, CALIFORNIA EXPRESSING THE INTENT TO CONSIDER USE OF CITY PROPERTY FOR AN ELECTRIC VEHICLE FAST-CHARGING PLAZA DEMONSTRATION PROJECT WHEREAS, the Clinton Climate Initiative facilitates projects that could lead to meaningful reductions of greenhouse gas emissions with a major focus on electric vehicles (EVs) and promoting implementation of EV facilities that can lead to mainstream adoption of EVs as means of transportation; and WHEREAS, a Project Working Group consisting of the Clinton Foundation, the Electric Power Research Institute, National Center for Manufacturing Sciences, EVOasis Corporation, Fuji Electric, Three Squares Inc. and San Diego Gas and Electric are working on business plans for the development of an EV Fast-Charging Plaza and are seeking sites to potentially implement an EV Fast-Charging Plaza demonstration project; and WHEREAS, a primary purpose of the EV Project was to identify and establish public infrastructure necessary to support the introduction of EVs in the region, provide a level of confidence with consumers in the viability of EVs and establish ground work to meet the near-term needs and plan for the long-term needs for EV charging stations and market expansion in the region; and WHEREAS, the City s Climate Action Plan identifies GHG emissions associated with the transportation sector as the dominant factor in community-wide GHG emissions with the main form of travel within the community being single-occupant vehicles; and WHEREAS, the Project Working Group has identified the Interstate 5 corridor in Northern San Diego County as favorable for potential location of an EV fast charging service plaza demonstration facility and has held preliminary meetings with City staff to gather information and conducted preliminary site evaluation; and WHEREAS the Project Work Group has identified the north-east corner at Vulcan Avenue and E Street, identified as City Hall overflow parking lot, as a potential site for an EV Fast Charging plaza, EV car-sharing hub and auxiliary services demonstration project; and WHEREAS, the City of Encinitas is the owner of real property at north-east corner of Vulcan Ave. and E Street, known as the City Hall overflow parking lot, consisting of 24 space parking lot approximately 9,800 sq. feet in size; NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the City Council of the Encinitas expresses the intention to negotiate a potential short-term land lease for an EV Fast Charging Plaza demonstration project, authorizes the City to undertake local permitting requirement review, conduct due diligence and enter into discussions for a potential lease arrangement with an appropriate entity representing the Project Working Group. 04/10/2013 Item #07 Page 6

7 PASSED AND ADOPTED, this th day of April, 2013 by the following vote, to wit: AYES: NAYS: ABSENT: ABSTAIN: Teresa Arballo Barth, Mayor City of Encinitas ATTEST: Kathy Hollywood, City Clerk 04/10/2013 Item #07 Page 7