To: Board of County Commissioners
Through: Bryan Weimer, PWLF, Director, Public Works & Development
Prepared By:
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James Katzer, PE, Transportation Division Manager, Public Works and Development
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presenter
Presenter: James Katzer, PE, Transportation Division Manager, Public Works and Development
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Subject:
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Public Works and Development EV Action Plan Adoption
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Purpose and Request:
recommended action
Public Works and Development (PWD) would like to present the final Electric Vehicle (EV) Action Plan to the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC). The draft Plan was presented to the BOCC on March 11, 2024. The purposes of this presentation are:
§ Present a brief recap of the creation of the EV Action Plan
§ Recognize the support of the BOCC and others in the creation of the EV Action Plan
§ BOCC adoption of the EV Action Plan
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Background and Discussion: The County entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Xcel Energy to participate in the Partners in Energy program, which covers all the costs to develop an EV Readiness Plan (EV Action Plan) within the boundaries of Xcel Energy. The areas outside of Xcel Energy’s but within the County fall into CORE’s area. This area is generally within the rural parts of the County and will be incorporated in the plan. The EV Action Plan is a high-level Countywide plan that will provide an overarching vision and implementation plan that local jurisdictions can utilize as a starting point for the drafting of more specific plans for each local jurisdiction.
On November 14, 2022, PWD Staff introduced this project to the BOCC in a study session. At the study session, the Board communicated that they would like to provide some input on the project and receive updates at important milestones. On February 6, 2023, PWD held a study session with the BOCC that obtained input on the Plan’s vision and goals along with the results of Workshop #1.
From March to July 2023, the project team conducted Workshops #2, #3, and #4. The workshops had great participation from community partners. After the workshop series concluded, Partners in Energy drafted the Plan document based on stakeholder input provided in the planning workshops and post-workshop surveys. The draft Plan was reviewed and revised by the Project Management team through emails and bi-weekly meetings. The draft plan was then shared and reviewed by the Stakeholder team. This feedback was used to further revise the draft plan which will be presented in the Study Session today.
On September 26, 2023, PWD presented the draft EV Action Plan to the BOCC and received some great feedback. The expressed concerns around the greenhouse gas emissions relating to EVs, the cost of installing EV charging stations, the impacts of EVs, uncertainty of community support for the County to start a new program related EVs, and the costs the EV Action Plan would obligate the County to. After the study session, PWD performed more research, and revised the EV Action Plan.
On December 5, 2023, the BOCC gave direction to move forward with engaging the public by presenting the Action Plan on the County’s website and through a virtual meeting. The public engagement process occurred from January 12 to February 29, 2024, and followed the County’s Title VI Plan. The EV Action Plan was posted on the County’s website along with an online feedback survey to gather comments on the Plan. The public engagement period resulted in over 50 completed surveys.
The project team also hosted a virtual Townhall event on February 8, 2024, to discuss the plan, gather feedback, and answer questions from attendees. The County promoted the event through the County’s and other community channels. Nearly 600 attendees participated in the event by attending, participating in polling questions, and asking questions.
On March 11, 2024, PWD presented the final draft plan with proposed revisions based on public comment and discussed the public comments received during the engagement process. The public feedback has been captured in the Action Plan. During the meeting the BOCC gave direction to staff to present the EV Action Plan during a General Business meeting for adoption.
As a summary, the EV Action Plan includes:
• An Executive Summary
• Where the County is now and outlines relevant characteristics of the region’s current EV landscape.
• Where the County needs to go to meet State goals and includes a vision, EV adoption and EV charger projections, and various focus areas.
• A roadmap on how the County might obtain the goals while providing context for the focus areas, the list of strategies, and a key for required resources.
• Guidance on how the County may stay on course with outlines how the County will track progress toward the plan vision, and how to adapt to a changing landscape during implementation.
• Appendices that provides strategy details, information about EVs and charging infrastructure, available EV programs, EV adoption in the County, Supplemental Report from Arapahoe County, and a summary of public feedback.
The EV Action Plan recommends a collaborative partnership approach for implementation with the 4 Focus Areas and Strategies being as follows:
• Outreach and Education
o EO-1: Conduct communitywide EV outreach.
o EO-2: Conduct annual community surveys to understand existing barriers to EV adoption.
o EO-3: Support EV training opportunities for first and second responders
• Charging Infrastructure
o CI-1: Map potential locations for public charging stations
o CI-2: Develop EV charging outreach materials for developers.
o CI-3: Increase public charging infrastructure through installations at public sites and promoting funding opportunities and resources
• Fleet Electrification
o FE-1: Encourage public fleets to conduct fleet analyses to recommend opportunities for electrification.
o FE-2: Develop fleet electrification resources and conduct outreach to engage regional and local fleets.
o FE-3: Support EV training opportunities for mechanics and technicians.
• Electric Multimodal Transportation
o MT-1: Incorporate electric multimodal considerations into multimodal network planning.
o MT-2: Partner with regional entities to support electric multimodal options.
o MT-3: Coordinate countywide adoption of consistent electric multimodal policies.
Fiscal Impact: The fiscal impact to adopt and follow the current version of the EV Action Plan is minimal as current staff time and resources will be used to implement the plan.
Alternatives: The alternatives available to the BOCC would be to 1) adopt the EV Action Plan as presented, 2) adopt the plan subject to changes that the BOCC may suggest, or 3) no adopt the EV Action Plan and suspend any further staff effort in creating an EV Action Plan.
Alignment with Strategic Plan:
☒Be fiscally sustainable
☒Provide essential and mandated service
☒Be community focused
Staff Recommendation: Staff recommends that the BOCC adopt the EV Action Plan and move forward to the implementation phase. After adoption, Staff recommends that the BOCC revisit the EV Action Plan implementation when resources become available and/or requirements of state legislation for further County implementation is enacted so as to determine the County’s further implementation of the EV Action Plan.
Concurrence: The Arapahoe County Attorney’s Office has reviewed this report.
Resolution: Attached.