- By Dan Veaner
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Representatives from The Shops at Ithaca Mall presented a change Monday to the Lansing Meadows Planned Development Area (PDA) that could make Ithaca a leader in electric car fueling stations. Triax Principal Partner Eric Goetzmann and Bold Associates's James Bold asked Village of Lansing Trustees to recommend that the Village Planning Board consider a zoning change that would allow a gas and electric fueling station on the site of the new BJ's Wholesale Club that is currently under construction to the north of the mall. That would bring shoppers to Ithaca, where they could recharge their cars in one of the first electric fueling stations in Central New York.
"In concept you could think about the electric cars not just being a small regional thing," Bold said. "People could come from farther away and travel by electric car and need a place to recharge. So that could be a real community benefit to Ithaca."
The charging station would put Ithaca in the lead for a technology that is expected to account for 5% of auto sales in less than a decade. Two major players are the Nissan Leaf, scheduled for a full US market rollout in 2012, and the Chevrolet Volt, which was introduced last year. And Wednesday GM confirmed they will be rolling out a production model of their Cadillac ELR, a luxury version of the Volt.
10 charging stations opened in a major rollout in San Diego this June, and other cities are beginning to offer electric car charging stations. According to a Center For Automotive Research study more than 110,000 electric cars will registered in California by 2015, and other states are projected to have in the range of 26,000. As of February the US Department of Energy listed 603 electric charging stations with 431 of them in California, 39 in Oregon, 22 in Texas, and 15 in Washington.
"We'd like to be the first people in the area to incorporate the new electric charging system," Goetzmann said. "The Nissan Leaf is rolling out in 2012. We'd like to tie into that roll out, and also tie into the opening of our store in the first quarter of 2012. I have an electric car now and you can only drive it so far. My issue is I can't charge it. When you travel somewhere it takes four to six hours to get a charge back at 110 volts."
Bold says that he is currently working on a project in Syracuse that includes four electric charging stations. When that station opens it will be the first to open in Syracuse. Goetzmann explained that at 120 volts a Leaf takes 20 hours to fully recharge. At 220 volts it takes eight hours, but at a 480 volt charging station it only takes a half hour to charge the car to 80%. He said that shoppers coming from nearby cities would need a charge in order to get home, making the fueling station a draw to bring more business to Tompkins County. He said they could leave their cars to charge while shopping at BJ's and other nearby stores, and have enough charge to get home when they are finished.
"It really lends itself to being in a location where you work or possibly where you shop," Goetzmann said. "That's why BJ's wants to be a frontrunner in putting electrical charging stations at the (shopping) center."
Jim Bold shows Trustees where the fueling station will be located, if approved.
If approved by the Village there will be six double-sided gas pumps and initially two or three 480 volt charging stations are planned, with the possibility of expanding as demand increases. Some parking spaces from the current plan would be eliminated to provide space for the fueling station on the north east portion of the proposed parking lot. That puts it close to senior housing the mall is also building on Oakcrest Road.
Trustee Lynn Leopold expressed concern about light and noise pollution. Bold explained that the recessed lighting fixtures would be contained in a 14 foot high canopy that is lower than proposed 30 foot high parking lot lights, and Goetzmann said that after walking the site they determined that trees would have to be planted to act as a buffer between the fueling station and the senior housing rental units. Those units are also part of the project, the idea being to provide housing for seniors who would like to be able to walk to where they shop.
The red circle shows the approximate proposed fueling station location. New senior housing units are sketched in at the top, between the Village of Lansing fire station (top left) and Ciao's Restaurant (top right).
Village Attorney David Dubow explained the process for amending the PDA has different requirement for major or minor changes. Minor changes must be reviewed by the Planning Board and approved by the Board of Trustees. Major changes would be subject to the same procedure originally applied to the PDA as a whole. Dubow listed increased density or reduction of open space as example of major changes.
"The key thing is the screening," Hartill said. "The location isn't optimal, but I understand the operational issues. Since we're not increasing the footprint of the commercial space I don't have any problem with that. Given that background, in my mind it's a minor modification of the PDA."
The Board voted to recommend it be considered as a minor change. Dubow said the next step would be for the Planning Board to consider the change and make recommendations to the Trustees along with any conditions the Planning Board feels are appropriate. If passed by the Trustees the fueling station would be subject to a special permit.
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