Item 6H Applicant's Presentation ZA16-068 for Verizon SUP for two electric vehicle charging stations at 500 W. Dove Road
Southlake City Council meeting
September 20, 2016
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Case History
Applicant requested approval of an SUP for two electric vehicle charging stations (servicing a total of four existing parking spaces) for private use by its employees.
At the SPIN meeting
about this SUP, Mr. Harsey requested landscaping to screen the stations from the street and a time limit on the SUP.
The Applicant believed that the photos showed the stations would
not be noticeable from the street, but submitted a landscape plan for consideration by the P&Z.
The Planning and Zoning Commission recommended approval subject to gray bollards, presentation
of the landscaping plan for council consideration, and the option to remove the handicapped allocation from the one EV charging station/handicapped space.
Applicant has submitted revised
plans with gray bollards and has provided the landscaping plan for City Council consideration. The Applicant appreciates the suggestion of the P&Z to make it optional for the Applicant
to remove the handicapped space from the EV charging space, but this would be contrary to the Applicant’s internal program guidelines.
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Request
Applicant requests approval of the SUP subject to compliance with the site plan, signage and design of the stations shown in the application and revised plans submitted by the Applicant
(including gray bollards).
Applicant has provided a screening landscaping plan and is willing to provide this additional landscaping, but believes it is not in the spirit of the city
code requirements, that it could be a disincentive to others considering installation of EV Charging Stations, and that it could be counterproductive to the goal of improving air quality;
therefore, Applicant requests approval of the SUP without the additional screening landscaping.
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Is a Landscaping Requirement for these Stations in the best interest of the City?
Chargepoint is a large supplier of attractive charging stations; requiring landscaping sends a message that the city considers the stations to be something unsightly that need to be
heavily screened by landscaping.
The expense of screening landscaping is a disincentive to other companies that might be considering installing EV charging stations.
The city code requires
that facilities should be able to be readily identified by electric vehicle drivers but blend into the surrounding landscape/architecture. Requiring that the stations be hidden from
street view by full screening while also requiring that the stations are readily identifiable by EV drivers creates uncertainty as to where charging stations would be acceptable.
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Site Plan
The stations would be 530’ from the property line at Kirkwood and 298’ from the property line at Dove Road (it is even farther to the closest drive lanes of these two streets).
To put
this distance in perspective, a football field is 360’ including the two end zones.
The stations would be set back quite far from the street: they would not be visible from Kirkwood,
and would not be noticeable from Dove unless you are looking for them.
Requiring additional landscaping screening for stations this far from the public ROW sends a message about the
amount of screening that will be required for stations closer to the street at other businesses that are considering installation of EV charging stations.
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Southlake SUP requirement for Charging Stations: “Facilities should be able to be readily identified by electric vehicle drivers. . .” A policy of complete screening of the facilities
from the street would impede the ability of EV drivers to identify the location of charging stations. The stations would blend into the surrounding landscaping/architecture without the
additional screening landscaping.
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Photos from the driveways on Kirkwood and Dove looking into the site towards the proposed charging stations. These areas are already heavily landscaped.
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Photos from the proposed stations looking to the north and east
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New photos were taken at lightest parked interval (Sunday 4pm). Photo looking towards the proposed charging stations from the parking lot (model is 74”, three inches taller than the
charging station)
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Additional photos as requested at SPIN meeting. View from Kirkwood. Model is not visible without magnification.
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Additional photos as requested at SPIN meeting. View from Dove west of the driveway. Model is slightly visible from near the driveway if you are looking for him.
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View along exit driveway sidewalk from Dove Road. Landscaping would not obstruct this slightly visible view of the station due to straight design of the sidewalk (cannot plant in the
sidewalk).
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View from Dove along the exit driveway. Station is slightly visible from near the driveway if you are looking for it. Landscaping would not obstruct this view due to driveway(cannot
plant in the driveway).
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View from Dove east of the driveway. Station is slightly visible from near the driveway if you are looking for it.
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Proposed Landscaping Location if City Council requires landscaping for the Stations.
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Detail of Landscaping Plan
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Landscape Plan: Add matching hedge in the parking area, and add Indian Hawthorne and Yaupon Holly on either side of the Dove Road driveway.
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Planting locations beside driveway
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Landscaping is to be planted at fully grown heights (15’ for Holly, 6’ for Indian Hawthorne, 4’ for the matching hedge) in order to provide immediate screening.
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Request
Applicant respectfully requests approval of the application as submitted, however, if the proposed landscaping is deemed necessary, requests approval of the application as submitted
with the proposed landscaping plan provided by the Applicant.
Due to the expense of installation Applicant requests a standard SUP with no time limit, or the implementation of the charging
stations would not be viable.
Questions?
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