Adobe stock photo
Modern electric vehicle charging station in a well-lit underground parking garage with designated spots.
The Homewood City Council on Monday is scheduled to consider a ban on electric vehicles and electric vehicle charging stations in underground parking garages and parking decks.
The proposed ordinances indicate a concern with the potential for electric vehicles to catch fire and the threat that could pose to people and structures.
Homewood City Attorney Keith Jackson wrote in a memo to fire Chief Brandon Broadhead that some states have enacted statutes protecting electric vehicle charging infrastructure or limiting local restrictions, but Alabama doesn’t appear to have enacted comprehensive statewide legislation requiring municipalities to permit private electric vehicle charging stations or pre-empting local zoning regulations pertaining to charging stations, Jackson wrote.
That said, any local regulations concerning electric vehicles or charging stations should be supported by identifiable fire safety, life safety or operational concerns and should be backed by factual records, Jackson wrote.
“A municipality may face legal challenges if a prohibition is arbitrary or capricious, lacks evidentiary support , is applied inconsistently, conflicts with state law, or effectively excludes a lawful accessory use without adequate justification,” Jackson wrote. “As a result, a city will likely have a stronger legal argument if it regulates charger placement, electrical safety, fire access, ventilation or parking design than if it simply prohibits all EV charging in every private parking deck without articulated safety or land-use reasons. We would need to support a regulation with legitimate healthy, safety or welfare concerns.”
The city would be on firmer ground if it were to require special permits, limit the number or type of chargers, impose electrical and fire-safety requirements or restrict chargers in particular zoning districts, Jackson wrote.
He suggested that regulations could focus on below-grade parking structures because of higher risks associated with smoke accumulation, ventilation limitations, firefighter access, evacuation challenges and difficulties associated with suppressing battery fires in enclosed environments. Another potential area of regulation could be parking areas located beneath residential, hotel, office or mixed uses, Jackson wrote. The city also would be on solid ground to require enhanced protections for older structures lacking sprinklers, decks without modern fire-detection systems and facilities with limited emergency access, he wrote.
One proposed ordinance would make it illegal to install or operate an electric vehicle charging station within an underground parking garage or parking deck, with a penalty fine of at least $50 per day for the first 30 days from written notice of the offense and not less than $100 per day thereafter until the charging station is removed. Each charging station would be a separate offense.
Any charging stations already installed prior to the effective date of the ordinance would be allowed to remain until the station needed to be replaced.
Also, a separate proposed ordinance would make it illegal to even park an electric vehicle in an underground parking garage or parking deck in Homewood. The penalty for violating that ordinance would be no less than $100 per day, and the vehicle would be subject to towing, as well as towing and storage fees.
The electric vehicle discussion is scheduled for the council’s work session at 5 p.m. Monday. Other items set for work session discussion and potential council action later include:
- Amending the city’s zoning ordinance to define what constitutes a minor vehicle repair. See more on that topic here.
- Rezoning the western portion of property at 1832 25th Court S. (2,079 square feet of the property) from an I-2 institution district to a neighborhood preservation district to make it consistent with the majority of the lot’s zoning
- Declaring properties at 1045 Forrest Brook Drive, 608 Shades Creek Parkway and 1580 Berry Road a public nuisances due to excessive growth of grass or weeds
- Declaring various information technology equipment as surplus
- Hearing a report on the new microtransit service being offered in Homewood by the Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority
The council’s 6 p.m. action meeting agenda includes proposed actions to:
- Declare property at 405 Woodvale Lane as a public nuisance
- Stripe a yield line and install yield signs at the intersection of Rumson Road and Yorkshire Drive
- Better define “compact motor vehicle” and better enforce regulations concerning such vehicles
- Convert 29th Court S. into a one-way street
- Authorize private removal of a large pine tree in the rear right of way and unmaintained alley behind 3107 Overton Drive
- Fund the Safe & Healthy Homewood program from July 1 to Sept. 30 with money from a prescription opioid lawsuit settlement
- Allow a retaining wall to extend into the public right of way in front of 419 Poinciana Drive
- Update the city’s traffic calming policy and public records request procedures
See the full agendas and supporting documents for the 5 p.m. work session and 6 p.m. action meeting.
