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HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report 2606-6486CITY OF PALO ALTO CITY COUNCIL Special Meeting Monday, August 10, 2026 Council Chambers & Hybrid 5:30 PM     Agenda Item     4.Approve Program Guidelines for a Public Agency Electric Vehicle Charging Hub Grant Program; CEQA Status - Under CEQA Guidelines Section 15183, Projects Consistent with an Existing General or Comprehensive Plan do not Require Additional CEQA Review City Council Staff Report From: City Manager Report Type: CONSENT CALENDAR Lead Department: Public Works Meeting Date: August 10, 2026 Report #:2606-6486 TITLE Approve Program Guidelines for a Public Agency Electric Vehicle Charging Hub Grant Program; CEQA Status - Under CEQA Guidelines Section 15183, Projects Consistent with an Existing General or Comprehensive Plan do not Require Additional CEQA Review RECOMMENDATION The Climate Action and Sustainability Committee (CASC) and staff recommend that the City Council approve the proposed Program Guidelines to authorize a Public Agency Electric Vehicle Charging Hub Grant Program. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The CASC and staff are recommending adoption of a set of guidelines for the program that ensures sites are close to multi-family housing, particularly dedicated affordable housing, that ensures charging rates are at cost and that chargers are accessible overnight, and that provides some cost recovery to the City in exchange for the grant. The City has already identified various City, PAUSD, and other public agency sites with high potential for these charging hubs. Transportation emission reductions is a primary goal for emissions reductions in the S/CAP Goals and Key Actions, with increased access to electric vehicle (EV) charging for multi-family residents being a key approach to achieving that goal. One strategy for enabling access is siting EV charging and mobility hubs in locations near multi-family buildings. Public agencies have parking facilities spread throughout residential areas that are high potential locations for such hubs. Staff is recommending a grant program to public agencies to use in conjunction with external grant funding or their own funding streams to encourage more EV charging on these sites. The City Council’s CASC unanimously recommended approval of these design guidelines (Attachment A) at its June 12, 2026 meeting.1 Staff is seeking City Council approval with the goal of making the program available on a short timeline compatible with timelines for a large 1 Climate Action and Sustainability Committee, June 12, 2026, Agenda Item 2, Recommendation to Approve Design Guidelines for a Public Agency EV Charging Hub Grant Program, https://recordsportal.paloalto.gov/WebLink/DocVi ew.aspx?id=887115&dbid=0&repo=PaloAlto Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) grant that could facilitate some of these public agency charging hubs. BACKGROUND In April 2016, the City Council formally adopted the goal of an 80% reduction in GHG emissions relative to a 1990 baseline by 2030 (“80 x 30”) as a key climate target. A significant area for emissions reduction is EV adoption to reduce transportation emissions, and access to charging is a common barrier for multi-family households, which make up about 40% of households in Palo Alto. The City Council adopted an E-Mobility Strategic Roadmap on August 18, 20253 that included a variety of strategies for facilitating access to charging, such as Strategy 2, Action 1, which addressed active facilitation of EV charging for multi-family complexes, and Strategy 3, Action 2 and Action 3, which talked about facilitating access to e-mobility hubs that included EV charging and other amenities and partnerships to add EV charging for overnight charging near multi-family residences. On March 2, 2026 the City Council adopted the 2026-2027 Sustainability and Climate Action (S/CAP) Work Plan4 that included work item CA4 (Launch Enhanced Multi-Family EV Charging Infrastructure Program) consisting of multiple components, including publicly accessible charging at neighborhood e-mobility hubs. This program would partially implement this work item. ANALYSIS Publicly-owned amenities like parks, schools, public parking garages, and transit centers tend to be located in residential areas, many near concentrations of multi-family housing. The parking lots at these locations are primarily used during the day, leaving opportunities for overnight EV charging for nearby multi-family buildings in addition to EV charging during the day for people who use these locations. The City’s garages are an example of this type of model. Most City garages with EV chargers see some amount of overnight charging every month. The City is looking at EV charging and mobility hubs in a variety of locations, including nonprofit and private properties near multi-family housing. But starting with public agency sites provides advantages because public agencies provide long-term, dependable, publicly accessible locations for EV charging. Operating without a profit motive, public agencies can be depended on to provide low-cost charging to residents and visitors. Public agencies often have competing priorities for limited funding, sometimes even having difficulties finding local match funding for grants to enlarge charging access. This program will 3 City Council, August 18, 2025, Agenda Item 6, Staff Report 2507-4943, Staff and the Climate Action and , https://recordsportal.paloalto.gov/WebLink/DocView.aspx?id=83554&dbid=0&repo=PaloAlto 4 City Council, March 2, 2026, Agenda Item 9, Staff Report 2602-5985 (Attachment G), 2026-2027 Sustainability and Climate Action Work Plan, https://www.paloalto.gov/files/assets/public/v/2/sustainability/policies- andplans/final-2026-2027-scap-work-plan.pdf help public agencies deploy public EV charging, either using their own funds or leveraging the City grant program as matching funds to take advantage of third-party grants. The City has, for example, obtained approval of a grant from the MTC for public EV charging hubs in Palo Alto. The proposed City public agency EV charging hub grant program could provide local match funding for this grant. The same model could be used for additional grants pursued by the City and other public agencies with suitable parking lots in Palo Alto. Staff recommends the program guidelines in Attachment A. These program guidelines: Focus the program on public agency sites near multi-family buildings State a preference for EV charging near dedicated affordable housing Ensure a distance of at least ¼ mile between public agency EV charging hubs, with the goal of minimizing walking distance for residents (ideally 1/8 of a mile) Ensure overnight charging is provided at cost and charging is accessible to the public at all times Provide for some cost recovery for the City in exchange for City grant assistance funding Allow and encourage City grant funding to be used to leverage other grant funding sources. If the City Council approves these guidelines, staff would launch the program quickly after City Council approval. FISCAL/RESOURCE IMPACT The total funding for the Public Agency EV Charging Hub Grant Program is $550,000, funded from Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) and Electric Cap and Invest revenues within the FY 2027 Budget authority. Staff is tentatively considering a $5,500 to $6,900 grant per charger installed, which is sufficient to cover a portion of the cost, with the expectation that the remainder would be funded through external grants or other agency funding sources. At this level of funding this budget would be enough to fund 80 to 100 chargers, with more potentially funded if parties are able to leverage external grant funding and efficient designs to maximize the number of charger heads per site, minimizing site preparation costs as a share of total costs. Staff is projecting that a City project would utilize about $70,000 in funding, depending on the number of chargers installed, enabling leveraging an external MTC grant or other grants. Remaining funds would be reserved for future public agency sites. To preserve public funds, the City would not provide grant funding for a project that was not ultimately completed. Staff anticipates that the grant rules would enable payments related to design costs, but no grant funding would be provided unless projects were completed (or grant funding would need to be repaid if projects were not completed, if a progress payment were allowed). Staff also intends to incorporate a long-term cost recovery model through an electric charging adder (not to exceed $0.05 per kWh). STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT 7 ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW ATTACHMENTS APPROVED BY: 7 Climate Action and Sustainability Committee, June 12, 2026, Agenda Item 2, Recommendation to Approve Design Guidelines for a Public Agency EV Charging Hub Grant Program, https://recordsportal.paloalto.gov/WebLink/DocVi ew.aspx?id=887115&dbid=0&repo=PaloAlto 1 1 6 4 3 Guidelines for Public Agency EV Charging Hub Grant Program These guidelines are meant to guide development of an electric vehicle (EV) charging program designed to expand community access to publicly-owned EV charging located near concentrations of multi-family buildings, with a focus on locations near dedicated affordable housing. Program goals and scope The program should: 1. Enable convenient, affordable, and accessible overnight EV charging for multi-family residents at publicly-owned locations 2. Enable public agencies to leverage additional grant funding to expand the number of chargers installed and number of sites with EV chargers. Program design The Public Agency EV Charging Hub Grant Program will prioritize available funding for sites that meet the following conditions: Charging hubs must be at locations owned by a public agency Charging hubs must be within ¼ mile of multi-family buildings, with a preference for dedicated affordable housing Must be accessible to the public for overnight charging Includes cost recovery for City grant funding contributions through charging an adder and/or by receiving the Low Carbon Fuel Standard credits for charging delivered through chargers funded by City grant. Cost recovery should be designed so as not to make charging rates unattractive Charging must be provided at cost, including the cost of electricity, operation, charger head replacement, and any additional City charges such as a cost recovery adder Must be at least ¼ mile away from other publicly owned EV charging hubs City funding may be used to leverage other grant funding to provide additional publicly accessible chargers at other locations, so long as the original locations approved for City grant funds are built.