Council committee approves minor amendment to Deer Grove Center plan to allow electric-vehicle chargers

A village committee on Wednesday approved a minor amendment to the Deer Grove Center plan development to allow electric-vehicle charging stations within the shopping center's interior parking lot.

The change was described to the Police Policy and Code Services Committee by a village staff member as arising from a building-permit application filed last fall. "There are 14 parking spaces that would be impacted," the staff member said, "and then when the charging stations are installed, they will be replaced with eight parking spaces." The staff member said the center is currently "over-parked" and that an existing operating easement with Target and neighboring outlets would maintain shared parking access.

The staff presentation said the charging equipment — including a transformer and a switch gear — will sit in an expanded island inside the lot and will not affect front, side or rear yards. The transformer was described as set back roughly 13 feet from the curb and the larger switch gear about 18 feet from the curb; the island is about 260 feet from the Dundee Road frontage. The staff member added that an existing tree in the island would remain.

Committee members asked no substantive follow-up questions and voted in favor of sending the amendment to the full council on the consent agenda.

Why it matters: Allowing EV chargers on private shopping-center property both supports local adoption of electric vehicles and changes parking counts and configurations at the site. The staff review noted line-of-sight and setback considerations had been examined during the building-permit review.

The amendment will appear on the council's consent agenda for formal approval at the next council meeting.