City Council Announcements
March 1, 2011
E. Information Needed by Council Staff
1. Electric Vehicle Charging Station Ordinance
The Administration in November transmitted a proposed ordinance to amend City Code sections 12.56.205 and 12.56.550. Adopting the amendments would authorize the City to allow electric vehicle charging stations to be part of a public parking space and electric vehicle drivers to park in the parking space for free to charge their vehicles with electricity. The City may set specific time limits a person could park in the stall while charging a vehicle.
It should be noted that the Administration appears to have installed five 120-volt, 20- ampere electric vehicle charging stations (The Salt Lake Tribune, February 7 and 9) at the following locations:
•The Salt Lake City Main Library Parking Garage
•50 East 300 South Street
•135 South Main Street
•Forest Dale Golf Course
•Liberty Park
The City Council on April 21, 2009, unanimously adopted a Legislative Action Item of two parts:
Part I included a request that the City Council ask the Administration to:
•Identify the location of available electric plug-in charging stations and include those locations on the alternative fueling stations database on the City website.
•Look at the use of small grants/incentives to encourage business owners and or public entities to install electric outlets and signage for reserved parking available for electric vehicle use.
•Investigate the possibility of incorporating plug in and/or pay per use systems when purchasing credit card reading parking meters.
Part II included a proposal to write an ordinance that would amend the City’s parking standards to include the following items:
•Requirement of electrical charging stations in all new parking lots meeting minimum size requirements to be determined through research.
•Requirement to implement the U.S. Green Building Council LEED standards for parking into our parking ordinance including:
o Providing a minimum number of parking spaces for carpool/vanpool parking,
o Providing a minimum number of parking spaces for alternative fuel vehicles, including refueling/recharging capabilities where feasible,
o Provisions for bicycle/scooter parking that count toward parking requirements for commercial and mixed-use city wide.
City Council staff has begun work on the proposed ordinance forwarded by the Administration as well as the Legislative Action Item. To clarify for staff the City Council’s approach to the ordinance forwarded by the Administration for consideration:
•Would the City Council like staff to prepare additional amendments or ordinances reflecting the goals adopted by the City Council in 2009?
•Would additional amendments include amendments to the section in City Code Chapter 21A pertaining to off-street parking?
•Would the City Council prefer to request that the Administration include the items listed above in one of the sustainability ordinances being advanced to the Council?
Include at a later date with Administrations sustainability.
As part of its work City Council staff plans to obtain current standards for electrical charging stations and to contact owners of electric vehicles for comment on any version of proposed ordinances pertaining to electric or alternative fuel vehicles.
ADDITIONAL
City Council Announcements
March 1, 2011
F. Information Needed by Council Staff
1. The City Recorder’ s office recently met with the County regarding the Primary Election results being approved by the Board of Canvassers. The Board needs to accept the Primary election results one week after the elections (Tuesday, September 20th). The Council meeting scheduled within that deadline is a work session meeting only.
Do Council Members have any objections in convening formally on September 20th to accept the primary election results?
No objections.
2. The Mayor has invited
the Council to a press event to speak out against the proposed 62% cut in CDBG
funding by Congress and how they will impact your community on Wednesday, March
2, 2011 at 9:00 a.m. at the Matheson Headstart Center, located at 1240
North American Beauty Drive.
Factors that will be emphasized:
•We share the same constituents -- our residents and businesses are also national.
•We understand budget cuts -- that's all many of us have done for the last several years.
•Budgeting is prioritizing. For today and tomorrow.
•Cutting CDBG hurts those most vulnerable in society (homeless, elderly, poor, veterans services and facilities).
•CDBG is especially transparent, accountable, engaging our community in decisions, and leverages government money with private money.
•If we're going to get serious about budget balancing, which we do at the state and local levels, we have to get serious about the places where the budget largely resides: entitlements, defense, and tax expenditures are the lion's share of the budget and they have to be on the table when we as a nation talk about balancing the budget.
Council Member Christensen has responded and is attending.
Would any other Council Members like to attend this event.
3. Pedestrian Cross-walk Funds
At a February 1 briefing by the Transportation Division, City Council Members received a list of 24 intersections in the city where pedestrian-activated, flashing cross-walk signs might be installed. Funds for installing the lighted signs (roughly $225,000) were appropriated in current fiscal year budget for pedestrian safety. At the February 1 meeting the Council opted to study the list of potential locations. If any Council Member had concerns about the locations, the City Council would place the item back on a meeting agenda
Are there any concerns among Council Members about the potential locations for the cross-walk lights?