Title
a. Authorize the County Administrative Office to apply to the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Grants Community Program as part of the Regional Climate Project Working Group as a co-applicant for a total grant award not to exceed $10 million; and,
b. Authorize the County Administrative Office to apply to the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Grants Corridor Program as part of the Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments’ application as a site host; and,
c. Recommend that staff return to the Board of Supervisors before accepting the grant award through its Alternative Energy and Environment Committee, Capital Improvements Committee, and Budget Committee; and,
d. Provide direction to staff.
Report
RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended that the Board of Supervisors:
a. Authorize the County Administrative Office to apply to the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Grants Community Program as part of the Regional Climate Project Working Group as a co-applicant for a total grant award not to exceed $10 million; and,
b. Authorize the County Administrative Office to apply to the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Grants Corridor Program as part of the Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments’ application as a site host; and,
c. Recommend that staff return to the Board of Supervisors before accepting the grant award through its Alternative Energy and Environment Committee, Capital Improvements Committee, and Budget Committee; and,
d. Provide direction to staff.
SUMMARY:
The County participates in a regional collaborative with the Counties of San Benito and Santa Cruz and the Cities of Santa Cruz and Watsonville called the Regional Climate Project Working Group (RCPWG) to develop, prioritize, secure funding for, and effectively and equitably advocate for and implement regionally beneficial climate mitigation and adaptation projects and programs. The City of Santa Cruz secured funds to hire a grant writer specialized in distributed energy resources to be develop an application for the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Grants Community Program as lead applicant for the RCPWG to install level 2 electric vehicle charging stations across the Central Coast for a grant award of $10 million. Concurrently, the Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments is applying to the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Grants Corridor Program to install level 3 direct current fast chargers across the region. Staff request that the Board of supervisors authorize the County to participate in the RCPWG’s Community Program application as a co-applicant and AMBAG’s Corridor Program application as a site host.
Staff have worked with the RCPWG to propose a list of 10 sites for a total of 40 charging ports. This list can be seen in the attached CFI Community Program EVCS List. It is important to note that this list of chargers will be subject to decrease to maximize grant competitiveness. Staff has been advised the full list of RCPWG jurisdictions proposed EVCS will need to decrease the number of sites and prioritize sites that are recognized disadvantaged communities or low-income, close to multi-family housing, and have surrounding speed limits of 25mph. Staff from the Sustainability Program and Public Works, Facilities, and Parks have coordinated with AMBAG and to identify Schilling Place and San Antonio Park as locations to host 8 level 3 fast charger ports each. To implement these grants, a private party will be selected by a competitive process if the grants are awarded. This vendor will be required to fund the 20% match requirement of these grants as part of the competitive process criteria.
DISCUSSION:
The RCPWG has identified the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure (CFI) Discretionary Grant Community Program, administered by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). The FHWA issued the Notice of Funding Opportunity for Round 2 of the CFI program on May 30, 2024, with applications due on August 28, 2024. The CFI program has $800 million available to fund charging and fueling infrastructure split between the Community Program and Corridor Program. Award amounts range from a minimum of $500,000 to a maximum of $15 million, with a minimum match requirement of 20 percent. The RCPWG applied to Round 1 of the Corridor Program funding opportunity but, due to a overwhelming number of applications and despite a “recommended for funding” score, was not awarded funds.
Since notification that the Round 1 application would not be funded, staff, in collaboration with the RCPWG members, Ecology Action, and AMBAG have refined the scope of the Monterey Bay Region Equitable EV Charging Project to be more competitive and will be submitting a $10 million grant application to the CFI Community Program for this project. The City of Santa Cruz is acting as the lead applicant with each RCPWG member and Ecology Action as co-applicants. Concurrently, AMBAG is applying to the Corridor Program as a separate scope of work to maximize potential funding and requesting that RCPWG jurisdictions to apply as site hosts.
The Monterey Bay Region Equitable EV Charging Project will install a minimum of 100 level 2 EV charging locations and up to 5 DC Fast charging locations throughout the Monterey Bay Region. Each location will support a minimum of four charging ports, each with a dedicated parking space. The project will also support an education and outreach component to increase awareness around EVs, especially focused to reach the underserved communities that could greatly benefit from this new infrastructure. Moreover, there is a workforce development component to support the skills and careers needed to support the EV charging installation, operation and maintenance, should the project be awarded funds.
Each location will be sited at a publicly accessible, publicly owned facility, and will be publicly accessible during the hours of operations of the chosen site. Outside of the hours of operations each site host will be allowed to determine whether the infrastructure should remain publicly available or should be prioritized to serve specific EV charging needs such as municipal fleet charging, or a future EV ridesharing fleet.
All planning, make ready, installation, maintenance, and operations for a period of 5 years will be fully funded through project funding. Staff have worked with the RCPWG to propose a list of 10 sites for a total of 40 charging ports. This list can be seen in the attached CFI Community Program EVCS List. It is important to note that this list of chargers will be subject to decrease to maximize grant competitiveness. Staff has been advised the full list of RCPWG jurisdictions proposed EVCS will need to decrease the number of sites and prioritize sites that are recognized disadvantaged communities or low-income, close to multi-family housing, and have surrounding speed limits of 25mph. Staff from the Sustainability Program and Public Works, Facilities, and Parks have coordinated with AMBAG and to identify Schilling Place and San Antonio Park as locations to host 8 level 3 fast charger ports each.
If awarded, the co-applicants and a stakeholder working group will undertake a competitive solicitation process to select vendors, for the installation, operations, and maintenance of the EV charging infrastructure. The selected private entity will be required to provide the matching funds for the project. The Corridor Program application submitted by AMBAG will follow the same process to provide additional fast charging to the Monterey Bay region with no capital cost to the County. This approach, combined with the regional scale of the application will ensure that the County benefits from the deep economies of scales that can be achieved through larger projects, while also ensuring that neighboring jurisdictions also achieve a minimum level of EV infrastructure buildout, which will support community members as they travel to neighboring jurisdictions, and vice versa.
OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
Staff have collaborated with Public Works, Facilities, and Parks and Monterey County Free Libraries to identify potential charging locations. County Counsel has reviewed and approved to form.
FINANCING:
Approval of this recommendation will not result in any immediate financial impact to the County. The grant application will total $10 million, and the private entity competitively chosen through a competitive selection process will provide the required match, any remaining match requirements will be met through an in-kind labor match by Ecology Action and the RCPWG staff members.
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS STRATEGIC INITIATIVES:
This item supports the County’s municipal climate action goals.
Mark a check to the related Board of Supervisors Strategic Initiatives
_X_ Economic Development
____Administration
_X_ Health & Human Services
_X_ Infrastructure
_X_ Public Safety
Prepared by: Cora Panturad, Sustainability Program Manager (Interim) ext. 5338
Approved by: Deborah Paolinelli, Assistant County Administrative Officer ext. 5309
Attachments:
CFI Community Program EVCS List