The Greater Downtown Tax Incremental Finance (TIF) Advisory and the Economic Development Authority plan to put forward a petition article asking Peterborough voters to allocate up to $35,000 from the established Great Downtown TIF funds to install, operate, and maintain up to four electric vehicle charging stations in the Riverwalk parking lot. The plan also includes possibly giving the electricity of charging a car away for free. The Peterborough Energy Commission also supports the initiative.
The $35,000 cost is an estimate based on a quote the proponents received from ReVision Energy in an arrangement where the town would end up owning and maintaining the system, Greater Downtown TIF chairman Bill Kennedy said.
New Jersey-based company Greenspot has also promoted an arrangement in which the company manages all the maintenance and would charge and pay for the electricity if a payment system is included, Kennedy said.
If the chargers are installed without a way to take payments from users, Kennedy said, the town would pay the cost of the electricity through Greater Downtown TIF funds.
If payment equipment is installed, then users would pay for the electricity but the Greater Downtown TIF fund would pay for the additional cost and maintenance of the payment systems. Even if the town opted to install payment systems on the charging stations, Kennedy said, revenue from payments would be unlikely to pay for the station’s installation, and revenue from the charge stations themselves was ultimately besides the point of the project.
“It’s a marketing expense,” he said. “In five years, I believe we’re going to be crowded out by charge stations. This is our opportunity to really stand out.”
“It’s like having a big star on the town,” said Kennedy’s wife State Sen. Jeanne Dietsch. “You’re getting thousands of dollars worth of free advertising,” when a town’s name shows up on such a list. “The actual chargers themselves are a secondary advantage.”
Kennedy and Dietsch own an electric Chevrolet Volt.
The stations would compliment the town’s branding program, Dietsch said, which seeks to attract young people and brand Peterborough as a great place to be.
However, to some residents spending $35,000 of town money on electric car charger stations is an extravagance.
“Our kids don’t have enough money to drive electric cars,” Peterborough resident Judy Wilson Ferstenberg said. “They’re just scraping along to buy any car they can afford.”
Ferstenberg expressed skepticism that the installation would attract young people, or generally generate additional downtown commerce.
“I feel as though it’s a slap in the face to hardworking people of lower income people in town,” she said, who could see this effort as catering to wealthy people with expensive cars.
Rather than using town funds, Ferstenberg said, she’d prefer the charging stations to be funded by the company that installs them.
The Greater Downtown TIF is projected to start the 2021 fiscal year in July with almost $300,000, with a projected total revenue of $140,000, and $107,000 in expenditures, Kennedy said.
“In the forecast, [the balance] should grow to over $400,000 for the 2021 budget year,” Kennedy said.
This year, the Greater Downtown TIF Advisory and Economic Development Authority have recommended a total of $45,000 to go to new projects. In addition to the charge stations, there is money set aside for additional signs to direct pedestrians to downtown destinations, and a planning study for future aesthetic renovations to lower Main Street after the Main Street bridge replacement project completes.
Kennedy said that although electric vehicles are owned by a minority now and can be cost-prohibitive, he forsees automakers’ efforts soon resulting in a greater variety of affordable electric vehicles. He said that downtown employees could potentially benefit from having an option for a quick charge of their vehicle.
The petition article will next need to go before the Select Board and Budget Committee, Kennedy said.
Initially, Kennedy had hoped that the state’s initiative could have funded the charge stations. Town Administrator Rodney Bartlett had listed Peterborough as an interested party for charge stations when the state’s Office of Strategic Initiatives put out a Direct Current Fast Charging Infrastructure Request For Proposals. The request sought applicants that could provide, maintain, and manage electric vehicle supply equipment along specified corridors in New Hampshire, with funds from the state’s Volkswagen Environmental Mitigation Trust. Last week, the agency denied all three proposals it received, deeming that none met the basic requirements of the request.
“Greenspot said it was an incredibly complicated RFP,” Kennedy said, and that the company intends to re-apply when the state re-releases its request.