Traffic Commission in brief: Electric vehicle charging spots’ fees to be lowered

As Waltham city workers begin to install new electric vehicle charging stations in its public lots, the Traffic Commission voted this week to reduce parking fees for spaces fitted with EV chargers in municipal lots.

Last month, Wires Director Tim Kelly told the Traffic Commission his department planned to install EV chargers in 20 new public parking spots across the city and upgrade existing public chargers.

Kelly told the commission this month at its Feb. 19 meeting that his department had started to install the new chargers, although they’d been temporarily curtailed by winter weather.

Unlike Waltham’s previous public EV chargers, these new charging stations will require people to pay for the electricity their vehicles use. The city previously charged a higher fee of $3/hour for parking in EV spots, instead of the city’s general $1/hour parking fee, to recoup electricity costs.

Traffic Engineer J. Michael Garvin had previously recommended the commission adjust the spots’ parking fees, bringing them in line with the general $1/hour parking charge, since electricity costs are now being transferred to vehicle owners.

At the time, Kelly told the commission he was in the process of assessing how much these chargers would cost in electricity, and requested it wait until Thursday’s meeting to set new rates; as of the meeting, however, his department had not yet completed the assessment, so the commission voted to reduce parking fees in electric vehicle spots to $1/hour. 

The committee also voted to maintain the city’s two-hour parking limit in EV charging spaces.

Additionally, the Traffic Commission:

• Accepted a parking study for a proposed project to convert part of the lot at the Home Depot at 100 First Ave. into a freestanding structure to store and sell drywall. Transportation engineer Matt Kealey of VHB told commissioners that according to a parking study conducted last summer, Home Depot’s parking lot is currently at 29% of its capacity on its busiest days, and this construction would only bring it to 31% capacity.
• Removed a disabled parking space at 84 Gardner St. no longer needed by residents.
• Approved a crosswalk requested by Bentley University for Linden Street, requiring the university to install it at the same time that it puts in nearby sidewalks. Commissioners asked the university to pay for ADA-compliant curb cuts at the crosswalk.
• Approved a street closure for August’s Moody Street Car Show.
• Approved four road races: The Flight Performance Road Race, scheduled for May 9; the new BBJI 5K Road Race and Walk, scheduled for May 16; the Boston Brain Tumor Bike Ride, scheduled for May 17; and the Annual Fitzgerald Fun Run, scheduled for May 28.
• Approved the conversion of two Church Street parking spaces into 15-minute parking at the request of an anonymous local business, over a recommendation from Garvin to survey other businesses’ preferences first.
• Heard an update on a flashing stop sign the commission previously voted to try out at the intersection of Cedarwood Avenue and Villa Street. The flashing stop sign did not make a significant difference to cars’ behavior during the trial period and Garvin recommended removing it. Kelly and Ward 7 Commissioner Paul S. Katz, however, said that the results were inconclusive because the sign’s lights did not work for a month of the trial. The commission voted to extend the trial for three more months with a better sign.
• Heard updates on proposed parking restrictions for Elson Road. The street does not have the capacity for two-way traffic and parking, and after holding a neighborhood meeting, Garvin proposed allowing only allowing cars to park on the north side of the road immediately around Prospect Hill Road and Hammond Street, and only on the south side of the street in between; the commission, worried the parking plan was confusion, asked him to draw up other options.
• Voted to approve a funding request for $365,000 for the Wires Department to complete improvements previously approved by the commission. This request included $25,000 for improvements at the Wal-Lex Plaza that Mayor Jeannette A. McCarthy had previously denied additional funding for. Kelly additionally provided updates on 10 more projects for which the department was not yet ready to request funding.
• Voted to ask Garvin to survey private way homeowners about their willingness to adopt parking restrictions on their streets for emergency vehicle access.