Town roadmap identifies school charging sites but committee raises cost, parking and safety questions

Leila Ahmed, Westboro’s sustainability coordinator, presented a fall 2025 EV‑charging deployment roadmap funded by a $50,000 Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources grant and developed with Power Options and town staff. The study inventoried 30 candidate sites—13 municipal, eight school and nine commercial—and ranked them by preliminary cost and feasibility.

The plan lists several school sites as “high priority,” including Hastings and Westboro High School. Leila said Power Options proposed two level‑2 stations (four ports) for Hastings and one level‑2 station (two ports) for the high school, and that initial estimates showed a low net cost to the town after hypothetical stacking of MassEVIP grants and National Grid incentives. Leila emphasized the roadmap “in no way commits us to installing these chargers right away” and described the document as a guidance tool for future decisions.

Committee members focused on three practical concerns: true net project costs, impacts on school parking and grant eligibility rules. Several members reported receiving updated incentive estimates from Energy Source that were “almost double” the figures in the preliminary report, a discrepancy Leila acknowledged as possible and described as the result of an outdated study baseline.

Steve pressed the financial case, noting the study’s summary line that the combined municipal and school net cost appeared large and asking whether demand charges or separate meter arrangements could raise ongoing costs. Leila said the golf‑course chargers currently “break even” on electricity and routine maintenance, but that additional charges—network subscriptions, insurance, payment processing and long‑term replacement—would affect total cost. A committee member added that some school meters carry demand‑charge penalties, which merit investigation before committing to installs.

Parking and public access were recurring issues. Hastings was called out as a tight lot where creating dedicated EV spaces could remove general parking; Leila explained pilot layouts would typically require an ADA‑compliant wider stall and restriping. The committee also discussed grant rules: MassEVIP requires a minimum amount of public access (Leila said roughly 12 hours of public availability is standard for eligibility), which raised safety and overnight supervision concerns for school sites. Jeff Lavine with Sustainable Westboro suggested split‑hour models other towns use—early morning and after‑hours access but not overnight—to meet grant requirements while limiting security exposure.

Members and town staff identified near‑term next steps: rescoping specific school sites with Energy Source to get updated cost and incentive quotes, surveying school staff and users to gauge demand, and considering single‑site pilots rather than committing to multiple simultaneous installations. Fred Larard, the town’s community involvement director, described the study as the town’s first attempt to approach charger deployment “from a scientific standpoint” rather than ad‑hoc placements.

No formal motion to fund installations was made. Committee members agreed they would like refined financial estimates and operational plans before deciding whether to pursue grants or pilot installations. The committee asked staff to return with updated proposals from Energy Source and additional information on meter/demand‑charge implications and operational approaches for staff/public use.

What’s next: staff will pursue updated proposals and incentive estimates for interested school sites and report back; the committee discussed possible pilot scopes and a staff/user survey to inform any future grant applications.