Tempe board overturns similar-use ruling for Terawatt AV charging depot, urges industrial classification

The Tempe Board of Adjustments voted Feb. 25 to grant an appeal of a zoning administrator's November similar-use ruling that had classified a proposed Terawatt autonomous vehicle (AV) fleet charging depot at 2105 South Terrace Road as a vehicle-based service allowed in the PCC-1 neighborhood commercial district with a use permit.

The decision follows more than three hours of presentations and nearly four hours of public comment in which nearby residents warned the depot's 44 charging stalls, associated transformer equipment and continuous vehicle movements could bring noise, traffic spillover onto narrow residential streets and heightened fire and hazardous-runoff risk. Terawatt's attorney, Wendy Riddell, urged the board to uphold the zoning administrator's test and treat the depot as analogous to modern taxi or ride-hailing dispatch, noting shared operational features such as automated dispatching and on-site operators.

Why it matters: The board's ruling removes the zoning-administrator classification that would have allowed the applicant to seek a use permit within PCC-1 and instead directs staff to treat the use more like a general industrial/fueling-type facility for future permitting. That change could limit where similar facilities may be sited in Tempe and signals the board's caution about placing high-capacity fleet charging infrastructure next to homes and schools.

What the board heard - Appellants' counsel Heather Dukes told the board the November 21 similar-use ruling was erroneous because the depot is not consistent with PCC-1's neighborhood service purpose and is "more detrimental" than permitted neighborhood uses. "This use is…