City staff presents draft EV-charging rules, urges code upgrades to make new housing ‘EV-ready’
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Summary
John Wagner, Webster Groves’ director of planning and development, briefed the Sustainability Commission on a draft approach to EV-charging regulation and recommended updating local building and fire codes to newer model-code editions that include EV-ready requirements for new construction.
John Wagner, Webster Groves’ director of planning and development, told the Sustainability Commission that the city is considering a code-based approach to increase access to electric-vehicle charging.
Wagner summarized key points he said were raised when the topic went before City Council in July: how utilities such as Ameren might be involved in permitting, how to address safety and permitting simultaneously, and whether to adopt a stand-alone EV ordinance or fold EV rules into a broader code update. “My name is John Wagner, director of planning and development,” he said as he opened the presentation.
Wagner described the range of costs for charging infrastructure—“charges can run up to about $3,000 or so, and they can run all the way up to a $100,000 including construction and labor”—noting the inexpensive end of that range typically covers slow residential charging and the high end applies to fast, public stations with substantial site and power upgrades. He said the department currently uses older model codes and recommended the city consider adopting more recent editions: the 2021 IRC/IBC and a newer NEC/IFC to capture EV-ready and fire-safety requirements.
On safety, Wagner reported the Webster Groves fire department had “no EV-charging fires to date, although there had been a few lithium-ion battery fires,” and noted that lithium-ion vehicle fires are difficult to extinguish and can require prolonged response. He directed commissioners to model-code provisions and neighboring-city examples—Crestwood, Richmond Heights, Brentwood and St. Louis—to illustrate differences in zoning, panel-box location rules, and when EV spaces must be ADA-adjacent.
Wagner also cited Missouri law that limits certain municipal EV mandates for parking areas owned or leased by some nonprofit entities: “Missouri Revised Statute section 67.288” was referenced as constraining what cities may require on 501(c)(3) lots.
Possible next steps Wagner proposed include amending zoning to allow EV chargers in all districts, adopting updated NEC and IFC code provisions, requiring a portion of residential units to be EV-ready and making a share of commercial spaces EV-ready or EV-equipped in new development. He said staff would draft ordinance language and return to the commission for feedback and invited commissioners to send written comments before the next meeting so staff can incorporate them into a formal recommendation.
The presentation closed with staff asking the commission whether it wanted to prepare a letter commenting on the proposed code updates; commissioners agreed to review materials and offer suggestions ahead of the next scheduled meeting.
The commission did not take a formal vote on policy or code adoption; Wagner said the next step will be for staff to draft ordinance language and present it at a subsequent meeting.
