Moab planning commissioners workshop EV-readiness ordinance; staff to refine exceptions and thresholds

Moab City Planning Commission members and city staff returned July 10 to a draft ordinance aimed at making new multifamily housing ‘‘EV-capable’’ or ‘‘EV-ready’’ as part of the city’s emissions-reduction goals. Planning staff presented draft text, commissioners questioned the threshold that triggers the rules, and staff said it will refine the exception and administrative-review language before a public hearing.

The ordinance draft would apply to multi‑household dwellings and, as currently written, would kick in at three or more dwelling units. The draft sets 10% of spaces as EV-capable and an additional 10% as EV-ready (a combined 20% standard) and contains an exception process for development that cannot meet the standard as written. ‘‘This is how we have it written right now — 10% EV capable and 10% EV ready,’’ said Alexi Lamb, city planning staff, during the workshop.

Commissioners and staff debated three main questions: what unit count should trigger the standard (options discussed included three, five and seven units); whether townhomes with individual garages should be treated the same as apartment-style shared-parking projects; and how exceptions should be reviewed — administratively by staff or by the planning commission as a discretionary process. Planning staff and the city’s building official raised concerns about aligning the ordinance with state…