Category: Legislation

House Environment and Transportation Committee Hearing on 2/19/15 at 1:00 PM

The Baltimore Sun has published a front page feature story with the headline, “Legislation could open the door for Tesla to sell its cars in Maryland.” State Delegate Kirill Reznik from District 39 in Montgomery County has introduced House Bill 235 which would lift the current ban on direct sales by Tesla Motors in the state.

Maryland HB235 would authorize a manufacturer to be licensed as a vehicle dealer if that manufacturer deals only in electric or non fossil-fuel burning vehicles and if no dealer in the State holds a franchise.

There will be a hearing on HB235 in the House Environment and Transportation Committee at 1:00 on February 19, 2015. Here is the schedule.

There are several ways you can express your opinion to Maryland lawmakers on HB 235.
1. Write to the members of the House Environment and Transportation Committee. Find a list of the committee members and their contact info here.
2. Go to Annapolis on Thursday afternoon to give your testimony in person. See these tips for attending a committee hearing.

Subscribe below to get updates via email as they develop.

@Lanny

My phone rang and the voice at the other end said he was Sergeant Baker of the Howard County Police. I had left a message for an Auxiliary Police Supervisor last week about enforcement of parking restrictions at electric vehicle charging stations in the county. I had been referred to the supervisor by a very nice volunteer Auxiliary officer who happened to be on the scene of a blocked charging station several weeks ago when I arrived to charge my car there. He was responding to a reported parking violation that had been called in by another EV driver.

The Auxiliary officer was unfamiliar with the aspect of the new law in Howard County that prohibits an ICE vehicle from blocking a charging station even on private property if the property owner has posted a sign designating the space for EVs only. He was in contact with someone via radio but for whatever reason, they were not able to find or interpret the law and he ended up leaving a warning and not a citation for the gasoline car.

Before he contacted me, Sgt. Baker had looked at Section 21.207 of the Howard County Code as it pertains to enforcement at charging stations on private property. He agreed that the law is enforceable on private property when there is a sign posted. He said that he will mention this at the next meeting with the Auxiliary officers on February 17th. He said he would also send out an email to all Howard County Police officers about the parking restrictions at electric vehicle charging stations. That is fantastic and I really appreciate the response from the Howard County Police. All of the officers that I’ve talked to about this have been very helpful and pleasant.

As I wrote in an article in the May, 2014 issue of Current EVents, the laws by themselves won’t completely solve the problem of ICEing. Effective signage and proper siting also plays a part in the solution. I do not advocate the promise of more revenue from fines as a reason for a community to enact legislation. If that many tickets are being given, each citation represents a failure to keep the charging station available for its intended use. However, where there is a problem of gas vehicles blocking EV drivers from charging, it reinforces the wrong message, that it is OK to park an ICE vehicle there. Enforcement depends on violations being reported.

I’ve created a new page on pluginsites.org for reference on the local laws in Maryland prohibiting “ICEing” and the non-emergengy phone numbers to call to report violations. Click “LOCAL LAWS” on the main menu.

@Lanny

There is some news to report regarding recent suggestions made to the lawmakers of Calvert County, Maryland by a few of us EV drivers.

On December 2, 2014 the Calvert County Board of Commissioners voted to adopt new zoning ordinance parking regulations that includes an incentive for business owners to install electric vehicle charging stations in their parking lots. Unfortunately, the reward for placing the charging stations is to allow fewer overall parking spaces. The four of us who commented to the Planning Commission expressed concern about this leading to more ICEing.

The Planning Commission had originally proposed a zoning amendment to require installation of electric vehicle charging stations for public parking lots with more than 50 spaces. When the proposal went before the County Commissioners in a work session, the Commissioners vehemently opposed the requirement.

The Planning Commission subsequently dropped the requirement and came back with an incentive for installing charging stations. If a parking lot requiring more than 50 parking spaces provides two electric vehicle charging stations, then they would be allowed to reduced the required number of spaces by two.

In my opinion, this was a recipe for ICEing. With less overall parking spaces in a lot and with two spaces already dedicated for plug-in cars, I felt that gasoline cars would be parking in the EV spots when the smaller lot gets crowded. I spoke with Mary Beth Cook, Deputy Director, Zoning Officer of the Calvert County Department of Community Planning and Building about my concerns and sent a letter as part of the formal public comment process. I suggested they consider having the new parking lots pre-wired for future installation of charging stations.

I was not alone in expressing concerns to the Commissioners and Planning Board. Two other plug-in vehicle drivers, Mark Czajka and Scott Wilson, wrote letters also suggesting pre-wiring of the lots and pointing out issues such as placing the charging spots away from the prime parking locations.

I spoke with Deputy Director Cook again yesterday and she told me that the Zoning Regulations will be getting a rewrite in the near future and that our comments will be useful in the plans they have for revisiting the charging station recommendations which they seem to be committed to promoting. She also mentioned that Calvert County is looking at some grants to install charging stations in public places. I’ll keep an eye out for that announcement.

The other development came as a result of the Calvert County resident and EV driver who came to the October 21 public hearing and spoke about the need for enforcement to ensure that spaces for electric car charging are not blocked. The Southern Maryland News reported that Bryan Murtha told the Planning Board and the County Commissioners that electric vehicle charging stations are useless unless the spaces for them are enforced for electric cars only.

That comment was noted by the County Attorney, John B. Norris, who included it in the 2015 Legislative Requests that he brought before the Board of Commissioners at a work session on Nov. 18, 2014. This was labeled a “request to provide enforcement provisions for the unauthorized use of electric vehicle parking spaces.”

Commissioner Evan Slaughenhoupt gave his view that filling stations for fuel cell vehicles are likely to surpass the use of recharging stations in a very short time making the issues surrounding EV charging stations irrelevant. Commissioner Jerry Clark didn’t seem to be informed that this was being suggested in response to the charging stations that would be installed as a result of the incentives included in the zoning text amendments. Instead he focused on the single public station that is currently in the county. He also said that “when the price of gas gets back down to a dollar, we won’t even be talking about this.”

In the end, the board took “no position due to Statewide implications,” but the issue was presented to the State Delegation from Calvert County at a meeting on December 2, 2014. This time, the County Attorney referenced a letter from the Director of MD Volt, Inc.

I’m not betting on $1.00 a gallon gasoline nor do I expect that fuel cell vehicles are going to take over anytime soon. But plug-in electric vehicles are here today and if Calvert County is going to offer incentives to encourage public charging stations, then they should also provide enforcement provisions to ensure those stations are not blocked.

Follow Plug In Sites to stay abreast of EV Infrastructure news in the DC, Maryland and Virginia area (and beyond.)

@Lanny

Howard County Police left a parking citation on the windshield of this SUV that parked in a spot designated for electric vehicle charging in Columbia, Maryland.

The ticket indicated a fine of $35.00 for, “parking restriction violation non electric car in electric spot.” The ordinance number cited was 21207c3. That ordinance was amended to the Howard County Code when the provisions of Council Bill 36-2014 went into effect in September, 2014.

Montgomery County, Maryland has a similar law which has been effective since June 11, 2014. In order to be enforced on private property, both counties require that the spaces be marked for the use of plug-in vehicles with a sign that conforms to specified regulations or standards.

Parking violations can be reported by calling the police non-emergency line.

Montgomery County, MD – Police Non-Emergencies: 301-279-8000
Ref: Montgomery County Code Sec. 31-26B * Printable PDF

Howard County, MD – Police Non-Emergencies: 410-313-2200
Ref: Howard County Code Sec. 21.207 and 21.221 * Printable PDF

***

Calvert County, please don’t take away parking spaces that will make ICEing more likely; consider pre-wiring for EV charging stations instead.

One EV driver spoke at Oct. 21, 2014 Calvert Co. Public Hearing. SoMdNews
Comments open until Nov. 5, 2014.  more info

In August, the Calvert County, Maryland Department of Community Planning and Building presented a number of proposed amendments to the county zoning ordinance including a requirement to install EV charging stations at parking lots with more than 50 parking spaces.

The Board of Commissioners balked at the idea of requiring businesses to shoulder the burden of expensive charging stations and the Dept. of Community Planning and Building came up with a new proposal to provide an incentive rather than a requirement to install EV charging stations. The new proposal is:
An incentive to reduce the required number of parking spaces by 2 spaces is available for parking areas requiring 50 or more spaces, when an electric vehicle charging device is provided to serve a minimum of two vehicles.
Read More …

One of the charging stations that we used during our Pennsylvania EV Road Trip in September was a Blink station in Wayne, PA that cost $2.49 per hour. Since our car charges at about 2.9 kW, this equated to about $.86 per kilowatt hour (“kWh”). Blink stations in Maryland and Virginia have fees based on $.49 per kWh of usage rather than time. This is because the regulators in some states, including MD and VA, have allowed electric vehicle charging station operators to resell electricity by the same unit of measure as the utilities.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission has decided to allow EV charging station operators to implement per kWh pricing. Car Charging Group, Inc., which owns the Blink network will implement their per kWh pricing structure at approximately 140 EV charging stations in Pennsylvania. These include some on the PA turnpike and in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

@Lanny

Joint Public Hearing with Planning Commission and County Commissioners
October 21, 2014 at 7:00 PM
Calvert Pines Senior Center

Currently there is only one electric vehicle charging station in all of Calvert County, Maryland. It is located at the Walgreens in Lusby. The county planning commission that is drafting proposed amendments to the Zoning Ordinance Parking Regulations had proposed a requirement to provide at least one EV charging station for parking lots that have more than 25 spaces. That didn’t go over so well with the Board of Commissioners in their comments about the draft. The commissioners wanted the requirement taken out.

Some of the commissioners don’t think EVs are practical for their rural county. one said, “The whole idea of incorporating electric charging, electric vehicles into the mainstream, is really not there yet.”

The planning commission tasked with recommending the amendments refused to give up on the charging station amendment and have now changed the proposal to an incentive instead of a requirement. Roxanne Riddle Cumberland, a member of the planning commission said, “It’s a huge mistake not to consider that [electric charging stations]” and other members of the planning commission agreed.

The proposed incentive they chose is in the form of an overall reduction in the number of required parking spaces if the owner installs charging for at least two cars in any lot requiring 50 or more spaces. If I understand this correctly, this is a perfect recipe for ICEing. Take away two parking spots to reserve for EV charging and you are allowed to remove two more. Where are people going to park in this smaller lot? Probably in the EV charging spaces. There is currently no law prohibiting ICEing a charging station in Calvert County.

Here is the current text of the proposed amendment dealing with charging stations.

I. Any electric vehicle charging station parking space that meets the standards of the ordinance for a parking space will count as a parking space in all respects. Electric vehicle charging devices may be located adjacent to designated parking spaces in a parking lot as long as the devices do not encroach into the required dimensions of the parking space (length/width/height). Devices must be mounted on the wall or on a structure at the end of the space at least 4.5 feet above the parking surface of the space. No charging devices may be placed within the dimensions of a space on the sides or entrance to a space.

1. An incentive to reduce the required number of parking spaces by 2 spaces is available for parking areas requiring 50 or more spaces, when an electric vehicle charging device is provided to serve a minimum of two vehicles.

A Joint Public Hearing with Planning Commission and County Commissioners will be held on October 21, 2014 at 7:00 PM at the Calvert Pines Senior Center.

Questions and comments can be directed to Mary Beth Cook, Community Planning and Building, 410-535-2348

@Lanny

Should a local government require that electric vehicle charging stations be installed in private parking lots? That was the fundamental question at the Calvert County, Maryland Board of Commissioners work session on August 19, 2014.

The commissioners heard proposed amendments to the county’s zoning ordinance that included a requirement to provide at least one EV charging station for parking lots that have more than 25 spaces.

During a pause in the presentation by Mary Beth Cook, deputy director of the Department of Community Planning and Building, the commissioners focused their questions and criticism directly on the EV charging station requirement.

Commissioner Susan Shaw asked, “How did you come up with the number 25?” adding a comment that she didn’t think that one out of 25 cars on the road is an electric car. She also asked Cook, “How much will it cost a business to provide this when nobody may use it.”

Cook didn’t provide figures on the cost of installing the stations but pointed out that there are grants available and that the station owner can charge a fee to offset the expense.

Commissioner Jerry Clark asked, “Do we say you have to put a gas pump on every piece of commercial property that has a hundred cars?” Adding, “If people decide to buy an electric car it’s up to them to charge it. It’s not up to the guy who owns a business… if he want’s to put it in as an amenity on his own, that’s one thing. But to require it doesn’t make sense.”

Commissioner Shaw told Cook, “I’m going to tell you right now, I will not support this. I think it’s crazy. I know there will come a time maybe when a business owner may wish to install such a thing because it may benefit their business, but right now, to require it, seems bizarre to me.”

Commissioner Evan Slaughenhoupt suggested it could be included as a recommendation, not a requirement.

Cook said that it could be changed to be a recommendation but Commissioner Clark opined that it shouldn’t even be in the ordinance at all.

Shaw admitted that she was upset with the idea because, to her, it was an example of “the kind of stuff that just comes out of left field that makes no sense.” Adding that it should be a business decision based on whether the business owner can sustain it or make a profit.

President of the Board, Pat Nutter, also expressed his disagreement with the proposed regulation saying the requirement on a business before they can get zoning approval is too much. The consensus of the board was to not even leave the charging stations in the parking regulations as a recommendation. However, Shaw said there should probably be standards for charging stations in the parking regulations similar to standards for signs.

Commissioner Slaughenhoupt asked what would prevent him from parking his gasoline powered car in the electric vehicle charging spot. Cook admitted that there were no laws against it, responding, “I don’t believe it is prohibited.”

Slaughenhoupt summed up his position by saying, “The whole idea of incorporating electric charging, electric vehicles into the mainstream, is really not there yet. I know there are experimental vehicles out there and there are people who can live driving 20 miles and then spending eight hours letting it charge up and driving another 20 miles, but that’s not so practical in a very rural county like us. I just think we are a little early on that.”

These arguments are similar to those put forth by some members of the Rehoboth Beach Board of Commissioners during discussions about accepting two charging stations for the city. Should government be in the business of operating or requiring private entities to install EV charging stations? In this case, it seems that the Calvert County Board of Commissioners would like to define standards for charging equipment at parking spaces, such as dimensions and placement, but not even infer that charging stations are encouraged.

Regardless of the outcome of this zoning ordinance amendment, I would like to see Calvert County follow the lead of Montgomery County and Howard County and address the issue of reserved parking spots for plug in vehicle charging. We know this is on the mind of Commissioner Slaughenhoupt and that Mary Beth Cook said there is currently no prohibition against parking a gasoline car in a charging spot.

The entire discussion lasts about nine minutes in this video beginning at 1:38:25.

Proposed amendment language:
One electric vehicle charging device shall be provided, at a minimum, when the required parking exceeds 25 spaces for any commercial, industrial or recreational use. An electric vehicle charging station parking space that meets the standards of the ordinance for a parking space will count as a parking space in all respects. Electric vehicle charging devices may be located adjacent to designated parking spaces in a parking lot as long as the devices do not encroach into the required dimensions of the parking space (length/width/height). Devices must be mounted on the wall or on a structure at the end of the space at least 4.5 feet above the parking surface of the space. No charging devices may be placed within the dimensions of a space on the sides or entrance to a space.

@Lanny