Six public charging ports, 10% usage, and "significant challenges": committee hits pause on more EV chargers

Staff came to Wednesday's Climate Action Committee meeting asking a simple question — where should Corte Madera put its next public EV chargers? — and got a fairly blunt answer: fix the ones we have first. The town's six charging ports at Town Park and Town Hall, installed in January 2025, are running at roughly 10 to 14 percent usage, and staff member Phoebe reported ongoing operational headaches, noting that pretty much every other Marin jurisdiction with public charging is having similar trouble. Staff also floated a countywide alternative: leasing or licensing town sites to third-party charging operators rather than owning and babysitting the hardware.

“Well, that's where the vehicles are. Unfortunately, that's sort of the situation we're in.”— Phoebe, town staff, asked whether EV chargers belong in the Corporation Yard that flooded

One committee member said the worry was that a bad experience is worse than no experience at all — going into additional chargers before the existing ones work well risks frustrating drivers and undercutting the whole point. Others pushed on where new ports would do the most good. Committee member Pat argued the town's role should be filling the gap for people who can't install a charger at home, citing three quotes for a home install ranging from $3,000 to $11,000, and suggested town-sponsored pay-as-you-go chargers in higher-density spots like Mariner Green. Another member made the case for the obvious commercial anchor: "Anybody who lives in East Corte Madera will tell you the social nexus is the Nugget" — though a colleague immediately wondered whether the shopping center could spare the parking, or wants cars sitting there overnight. Staff noted the only east-side site where the town already has an electrical panel is San Clemente Park.

On the fleet side, staff presented findings from the MTC-funded Fleet Electrification Plan covering the town's 30 vehicles (10 light duty, 20 medium and heavy duty), recommending a phase-one approach of two additional 10-kilowatt chargers at the Corporation Yard at 81 Lucky Drive using the existing electrical panel before spending on a service upgrade. A committee member asked whether the Corporation Yard is the same area that flooded, and whether chargers belong there. "Well, that's where the vehicles are," Phoebe answered. "Unfortunately, that's sort of the situation we're in." Another member pointed out the bigger exposure is the vehicles themselves — submerged EVs can lose their batteries. The driver behind the plan is CARB rules requiring 50 percent of new medium- and heavy-duty purchases to be zero-emission now, rising to 100 percent in 2030.

No votes were taken on charger siting. Staff asked the committee to weigh priorities — cost, location, staff time, reliability — and members suggested revisiting the six major apartment complexes previously identified as multifamily targets, plus possible HOA partnerships to get chargers installed at Mariner Green.

New chair, five members, and subcommittees capped at two people

The Climate Action Committee elected new leadership Wednesday after its outgoing chair stepped down, saying she'd served two years and could no longer give the job the time it needed. Committee Member D. Alexander was elected Chair and Committee Member Lang was elected Vice Chair, both unanimously. "I do. I accept. Thank you," D. Alexander said.

“I do. I accept. Thank you.”— Committee Member D. Alexander, on being nominated Chair · ▶ Watch this exchange

The shuffle comes as the committee shrinks. Membership dropped to five as of July 1, which means a quorum is three — and any ad hoc subcommittee has to stay under quorum to remain exempt from the Brown Act. Staff told members that caps every subcommittee at two people, and recommended dissolving the ones that have finished their work so they don't quietly harden into standing committees. Rather than reshuffle the landscaping, waste, electrification and tree-planting groups piecemeal, members agreed to pause them all and come back next meeting with fresh priorities. "We keep running into this," one member said of the Brown Act mechanics, asking whether an informal advisory structure might work better.

Outreach is proving hard going. One member described taking an electrification flyer to the library and to Bell Tam and coming away discouraged, saying the perception persists that restricting gas appliances will be expensive and burdensome. The committee also welcomed a new student member, Emily, a rising Redwood High senior, who offered a candid read on the recruitment problem: nobody really knows the Climate Action Committee exists. Members backed revamping the Student Ambassador Program into a one-pager with an online form and recruiting multiple ambassadors rather than one, with applications accepted on a rolling basis through September 20.