Island County commissioners are preparing to adopt a new policy involving the construction and operation of publicly accessible electric vehicle charging stations.
Priority locations for the chargers on county-owned property include the Coupeville campus and the Camano Island administration building, according to policy that was presented at last week’s work session of the board of county commissioners.
Satellite locations, which are lower priority, are being considered for service centers in North Whidbey or South Whidbey and county parks.
Ryan Beach, director of Facilities Management, said it’s been about a year since the county has started its foray into electric vehicle charging on Camano. He made it clear that the new policy is not about furthering an agenda regarding the replacement of the county’s fleet with all electric vehicles, nor about an attempt to profit from public-facing electric vehicle charging stations.
The purpose, he said, is to establish guidelines for the stations on county-owned properties. As part of the policy, the number of spaces in a lot dedicated to charging shall be no more than 10% of available parking. Overnight charging of vehicles is limited to the county’s fleet.
Beach said the county is working with Puget Sound Energy to develop a program on Whidbey that’s completely funded by the utility service.
Commissioner Janet St. Clair said she thought it was an important point that Island County is not currently offering charging to the public on Camano until a third party, like PSE, can help with the infrastructure, billing and services.
Commissioner Jill Johnson worried about a lack of public parking, especially for jurors reporting to the courthouse.
“We’re taking these spots away to say it’s for this type of vehicle only, assuming that we’re going to have people park in these spots,” she said, adding that she would like to make an exception for jury duty days.
Beach agreed that a larger conversation could be had in the new year about potentially securing parking passes for jurors.
St. Clair asked how the county will be ticketing people who stay in the electric vehicle charging spots for too long. Beach responded that most of that has been handled through signage. If it’s a reoccurring problem of someone abusing the system, however, the county would look into having their car towed. St. Clair said she would prefer towing to be a last resort.
Johnson asked about the goal of the policy. Beach said the goal is to charge the county’s fleet of vehicles as they move between Camano and Whidbey. The intent is to add a few spots for fast charging at the admin building in Coupeville.
The commissioners agreed to move the policy forward.
