Council introduces electric-vehicle charging ordinance aimed at streamlining installations

The Weed City Council introduced for first reading an ordinance to add an electric-vehicle charging chapter to the Weed Municipal Code, citing state statutes AB 1236 and AB 970 as drivers for the update and streamlining local permitting for residential and commercial chargers.

A county or staff presenter noted the ordinance is intended to make it easier for homeowners and businesses to install EV charging equipment by clarifying permitting processes and requiring new homes to be "plumbed" for future charging capacity rather than preinstalled chargers. "They're required to have the wiring to be able to charge... it's the ability to plug in within their garage," a council member said during the discussion.

Richard D. Denis, representing the Weed Chamber of Commerce, urged the city to coordinate timing for a ribbon-cutting once the new public chargers are commissioned and highlighted that the local chargers can fast-charge many makes of vehicles, not just Tesla models. Council moved to introduce the ordinance by title and approved the first reading; staff said they would publish details on the city's website once charging stations are commissioned and available to the public.

The ordinance was read by title only and advanced at the meeting; for some numeric citations the transcript provided differing ordinance numbers in different places, so the city clerk will publish the official ordinance number and full text when available.