Committee of the Whole

200 South Hamilton Road City of Gahanna Gahanna, Ohio 43230 Meeting Minutes Committee of the Whole Nancy R. McGregor, Chair, Vice President Jamie Leeseberg, President Karen J. Angelou Merisa Bowers Brian D. Larick Stephen A. Renner Michael Schnetzer April Beggerow, MPA, CMC, Clerk of Council Monday, February 24, 2020 7:00 PM Council Committee Room CALL TO ORDER Chair of the Committee of the Whole called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. with all members in attendance. A. DISCUSSION FOR COMMITTEE Establishing a Fee for Electric Vehicle Charging Stations Mrs. McGregor asked committee members about establishment of a fee for the electric vehicle charging stations. Mr. Crawford shared with Committee that the grant was for 5 charging stations and through research, he found that in the central Ohio area, there are no municipalities that currently charge for the electric vehicle charging stations. The City has a desire to promote green infrastructure- storm detention, LED streetlights, street improvements and electric vehicle charging stations, and in conjunction with sustainable 2050, this is one of those check marks. Adding these stations will help make Gahanna a destination. Adding these stations within the City makes it possible for EV owners to stop here, shop, get a bite to eat, golf at the municipal golf course... it promotes development and green initiatives. Cost wise, we made an assumption that EV will be charged 3 hours per pay on each unit for 365 days. Using that generous assumption, it came out to a total price of about $5,700 to $7,500 per year of electric cost. Other green initiatives are installing the LED streetlights and the energy savings of about $7,000 could cover the electrical cost associated with these EV stations. The assumption of 3 hours a day on all stations all year is extremely generous and we look forward to gathering additional data once they're installed to verify the usage. We propose that we stay City of Gahanna Page 1 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes February 24, 2020 in line with surrounding communities and not charge for the EV stations at least until we have further data. Mrs. McGregor asked if these were for hybrid cars for fully electric cars? Mr. Renner said that hybrid cars are a different category. These are for anything that has a battery that requires a plug. We talk about and deliberate on the topic of how to draw and attract more people to the city and there is a growing demographic of people who drive electric cars and they are looking for places to plug in. An EV driver’s best friend is an ap called plugshare and you do use this quite a bit to plan where you can go and your range. Easton has over 10 chargers for free to hook up and they also understand fully the idea of providing these for their shoppers. You also hit on the sustainability 2050 which is a MORPC goal. Ms. Bowers asked if we have an idea of how many electric vehicles are in Gahanna. Mayor Jadwin replied that there is no way for us to trace that at this point. The station at Creekside is an older model that doesn’t allow us to track. The new models will have a mechanism where we can track how often they’re used and how long they’re charging. Ms. Bowers asked if Tesla is aggregating purchases based upon zip code. Mayor Jadwin replied that she didn’t know. Mr. Schnetzer said that in researching this a little more, some data he found, the fuel is the electricity. What isn’t covered as part of the grant is the ongoing operating cost of the charging facility. He said that the assessment of $6-7,000 a year may be a nominal sum, his question is of fairness. It is essentially free fuel. Whether other communities are doing it or not isn’t a good excuse to guide our practices. Who are these purchasers- an article from CNBC in October of 2019 included a chart titled Affluent Buyers Still Dominate the EV Market, the takeaway, one of the captions says that 70% of electric vehicle buyers have incomes greater than $100,000 and I believe almost half were greater than $150,000. The top selling electric vehicle, and top selling in 2019 was Tesla model S which starts at a base price of almost $40,000 for the standard version, the long range version is almost $50,000 and the performance version is $57,000. Furthermore there are other vehicles out there that have an electric option, which adds significant cost. Example, the Volvo XC 90 SUV, the electric hybrid of that model is $12,000 more than the next highest trim level and $25,000 more than the City of Gahanna Page 2 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes February 24, 2020 base trim. The point I’m trying to make is $2.50 -$3.00, to charge up your car is probably not a significant cost to the typical buyer of electric vehicles. It’s just difficult to justify tax payer funded fuel. There is no electric vehicle option for a cargo van. From a fairness side, it just seems fair that there be some sort of charge for the fuel as opposed to being completely funded by Gahanna Tax payers. Ms. Bowers shared that it appears that since January of 2017 projected through the end of this quarter, the sales in the 7 county Columbus region approximate 4,000 vehicles according to Columbus CEO. Mr. Leeseberg asked new sales or total sales. Ms. Bowers replied new sales. Mrs. McGregor asked when they will be installed. Mr. Crawford said within the next 2-3 months they will be completed. Mrs. McGregor asked if there is a way to set up to charge for the service. Mr. Crawford replied that yes, we would have to update our code to allow us to charge, but there is a software embedded in the devices that would allow us to charge at any time any rate we want to set. Mr. Larick asked how specific the data is that can be pulled from the unit. Mr. Crawford replied that he is unsure. Mr. Renner asked if there are any violation in the AEP Grant if we did charge. Mr. Crawford replied that there is no violation. Mrs. McGregor said she agreed with Mr. Schnetzer that it doesn’t make sense to not charge. Mr. Renner said that he wanted to remind that there is a broader mission: MORPC sustainability 2050, and that we would be the only municipality in Franklin County that would charge, and that we deliberate about how to attract certain demographics to the city to spend money here and here is an obvious one that is very low cost, why not? Mr. Larick said that adding free resources is not a value add in any way that should be considered part of a reason to have a tax issue. City of Gahanna Page 3 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes February 24, 2020 Mr. Renner said we talked about park fees to have revenue. Now we have revenue, we’re lowering the cost. If we’re serious as a city to attract individuals from the region to come here and spend money, we should be considering what other communities across the region have already deliberated. Mr. Leeseberg said that many of our neighbors have parking meters and charge for their parking garage and those kind of things and it doesn’t keep people from going there. If we have the attractions and reasons to come here, they’re going to use it. He added that the gas tax that came out was not enough, and don’t be surprised when another one comes through. He doesn’t see a reason to not charge. Ms. Bowers asked about a compromise- could we charge for the stations at the parks but where we’re looking at the destination areas, those charging stations could be complimentary. Mrs. McGregor asked what locations are they being installed. Mr. Crawford replied 2 at Friendship Park, 2 at the Golf Course, 2 at Hannah Park, 2 at City Hall and 1 at the Municipal Lot at Town and High. (1 unit, 2 plugs at each site). Mr. Schnetzer asked what the potential electrical cost would be per vehicle. Mr. Crawford said our kwh price is 6 cents. It’s hard to estimate what each vehicle would charge because you don’t know how much they want to fill up. The best number they could come up with was the 3 hours per day every day vs. trying to define per vehicle. Mr. Schnetzer said the data supports that by and large the Teslas are up on the higher end of the scale, if it is $2.64 to charge up one of these vehicles, it isn’t viewed as a material cost to the owner. From a Council perspective, for people in the surrounding county metro, to be provided with free fuel at the expense of Gahanna residents that may not have the option to buy one of those, it’s just a tough sell. It’s a fairness issue. Mr. Larick said that the first all-electric fueling station was established in Maryland in third quarter 2019. Federally or state grant funded, but it’s a privately owned enterprise. It says a 200 kwh charging station will charge EVs to 80% capacity in 15-30 minutes at that point it slows down, but that charge is $5.10 at their retail charges. City of Gahanna Page 4 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes February 24, 2020 Mr. Leeseberg said that in regards to Easton, the stores pay rent to Easton, the customers pay, which pays rent which covers the services which they provide. So the comparison to Easton isn’t fair. Ms. Bowers said that folks with a higher disposable income to buy the vehicles referenced do typically spend more when they go out to eat, shop, that kind of thing. So to be clear, these are real dollars for our local businesses. Mrs. McGregor said if you’re out and about and you’re low on gas you fill it up. If you have to plug in your car and you pay 3 or 4 bucks or 2 dollars, whatever, it doesn’t seem like it would be an impediment to going somewhere because you had to pay for your gas/charge. Is there still time to decide on this? Mr. Crawford replied that no, but if they want this in place before the first unit is active, they need to speak sooner about it because we’ll have to look at updating code. Could install it and see in a month what kind of usage and decide later on, we can do whatever we want with these. There are no deadlines. Mr. Leeseberg said we would love to have some data. Mrs. Angelou asked how they would pay. Mr. Crawford replied that it’s through an ap. Mr. Renner said there is one called charge point, you have an account and a card with an RFID chip that you waive to enable, and charge point is one of many. Mr. Crawford said the one at Creekside does not charge and cannot be made to charge. Mr. Larick asked what the highest performing charging station could be. Mr. Renner replied that the super chargers are at 80-100 but the level 3 or fast chargers are pushing out between 50 and 58 and the L2s depend. Every car has its own charger in it to limit the draw of the amp into the battery. Most EV cars are about 32 amps so will pull close to 7 kw. The Tesla are different and pull much higher. Mrs. McGregor asked if she checked with Reynoldsburg, she thought they were going to charge. City of Gahanna Page 5 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes February 24, 2020 Mr. Crawford said no, they were not on the plug share ap. Mr. Schnetzer said he thought the minimum objective would be cost recovery. Mrs. McGregor said that discussion would be continued later. B. ITEM FROM THE INTERIM DIRECTOR OF PLANNING & DEVELOPMENT ORD-024-2020 ORDINANCE TO GRANT A VARIANCE APPLICATION TO VARY SECTIONS 1107.01(d) - Required Improvements & 1108.01 (f) - General Requirements, OF THE CODIFIED ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF GAHANNA TO DELAY THE REQUIREMENT FOR SIDEWALK CONSTRUCTION; FOR PROPERTY LOCATED AT BUCKLES COURT; PARCEL ID 025-013773 & 025-013760 CURRENT ZONING: SELECT COMMERCIAL PLANNED DISTRICT (SCPD); LORETO CANINI. Mr. Blackford shared his variance request. The presentation is attached to the minutes. Mr. Leeseberg said that this is typically put in for subdivisions to allow people to walk around subdivisions as they are being built. This is a more commercial development and the overall plan will have trails and there will be opportunity for that. We also don't know where the utilities are going to go so we don't want to see sidewalks going in only to be busted up. He supports the variance. Mr. Schnetzer said it seems logical. His question is- is there a way that this variance could get lost in the mix. Who ensures that it is completed? Mr. Blackford replied that it would require that as the properties develop, current rules say they require pedestrian facilities, it would take another variance to state that they don't require them. So even with the variance says it has to be done, this just delays the construction of the pedestrian facilities. Mrs. McGregor asked what kind of sidewalk is required to go in there. Mr. Blackford said it would be traditional sidewalk on one side, multi-use path on the opposite. Mr. Renner said he fully supported this variance request. Mrs. Angelou asked about assigning a time frame in which it needs to be completed. City of Gahanna Page 6 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes February 24, 2020 Mr. Blackford replied that it would require to be completed before the certificate of occupancy is issued. Mrs. McGregor asked about what if there is a gap in the properties, if all but one property in the middle are developed. Mr. Blackford said they don't have a mechanism to address that. Ms. Bowers asked if the variance could be amended so it didn't have to restart through the process. Mr. Mularski said you have to either accept it or it could be sent back to Planning Commission. But it just says delay, it doesn't lay out what triggers the requirements. So the Zoning or Planning Commission, could require it to be built, not that it only has to be built as each house is built. RECOMMENDATION: Consent Agenda. ORD-025-2020 ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO ENTER INTO AN AMENDED AGREEMENT WITH CALFEE STRATEGIC SOLUTIONS, LLC., DBA CALFEE ZONING FOR PROFESSIONAL ZONING CODE REWRITE SERVICES; WAIVING SECOND READING AND DECLARING IT AN EMERGENCY. Mr. Blackford presented his request to contract with Calfee Zoning to begin a re-write of portions of the Zoning Code. Presentation is attached to the minutes. He explained that the funds are budgeted for this process and ultimately there will be public participation and both Planning Commission and Council will be involved. Mr. Leeseberg said that design guidelines just set the rules. If we don't have rules, everything is allowable and we can't rule against it. So he is glad it is moving forward. Mrs. Angelou asked what the cost was. Mayor Jadwin said $65,000 at most for this portion. Mr. Blackford agreed. There will be another phase (addressing the rest of the Planning & Zoning Code). Mayor Jadwin added that back in the fall with public hearings for Mill Street, the number of times we heard residents coming forward saying it doesn't look like Gahanna, I don't like it. The problem is we don't have a way to tell developers what it should look like and there are more projects City of Gahanna Page 7 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes February 24, 2020 coming so the sooner this is in place, the sooner we can avoid these comments. Mr. McDonald from One Columbus made a comment on this topic that the number one thing is certainty, they want to know what to expect. Mrs. Angelou asked about permitting, are we going to talk about moving permitting ahead so people don't have to wait 3 months for their permits, is this part of that? Mr. Blackford said there are a lot of variables there with what is submitted. There are different processes that have different timelines. But that is a goal. Consistency, reflective of what the community wants and realistic. Ms. Bowers asked how was Calfee selected and what is our process for selecting a vendor in this way. Mr. Blackford replied that we have worked with them in the past and currently have an open purchase order with them for this phase. Not many other folks write zoning code. Calfee is by far and away the best and most suited to do this in a timely and effective manner. I feel they are the best and what the city needs for this project. Ms. Bowers asked if they were already familiar with our zoning code and land use plan. Mr. Blackford replied that they are. Ms. Bowers asked if he felt that the estimate was fair. Mr. Blackford replied that there will be public outreach sessions involved and public meetings and that he felt it was appropriate for the level of involvement. Ms. Bowers asked for it to be placed on the regular agenda vs. the consent because of the emergency request. Mrs. McGregor asked the Mayor if she had any reports. Mayor Jadwin replied that they extended an offer which was accepted today for a Marketing Manager and to a Safety Director those will be announted shortly pending background checks. Over the last 2 weeks we've filled 11 different positions and those will be announced in the next few days. We are moving forward. There is a lot to do and a lot to catch up on. City of Gahanna Page 8 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes February 24, 2020 Meeting concluded at 8:12 p.m. RECOMMENDATION: Regular Agenda. City of Gahanna Page 9