City of Bothell outlines near-term climate actions: EV chargers and mini grants

The City of Bothell is moving to implement its first climate action plan with near-term steps that include expanding electric vehicle charging at City Hall and creating a mini grant program for local projects, Cameron Colvin, the city's long-range planner, said.

Colvin, who helped lead development of the plan, said the region is already experiencing "more frequent flooding, wildfire smoke, and other extreme weather events," and that the plan's adoption has shifted the city's focus to actions it can begin immediately. "Now that the plan's adopted, the city is really focused on some of those near-term actions that we can get started on," he said.

The specific actions Colvin highlighted were increasing the number of EV chargers at City Hall and establishing a small grants program to support local organizations that carry out community and environmental projects. Colvin said the mini grant program would provide "funding to local organizations that are doing projects that are benefiting the community and the environment," but the amount of funding and the program's launch timeline were not specified in the remarks.

City staff framed these steps as complements to longer-term resilience measures. Colvin noted community involvement and partnerships will be important to implementing the plan, citing work with community members and city staff over the past year to develop the plan.

There were no formal votes or motions recorded on the actions Colvin described during these remarks; they were presented as staff implementation priorities following adoption of the plan. The city did not provide details on program budget sources, eligibility criteria for the mini grants, or a schedule for installing additional EV chargers during the comments on the record.

Next steps identified in the remarks: staff will move forward on near-term implementation planning for the chargers and the grant program; the timeline, budget, and specific eligibility rules remain to be set by the city.