Supercharger - Woburn, MA

[emupilot]

I did a little Google sleuthing and found a petition to the City Council of Woburn, MA (first submitted October 17th, referred to public hearing on November 21st)

Amended site plan which includes eight (8) Tesla charging stations and related equipment, at 369 Washington Street

The staff analysis included a question regarding an enclosure for the equipment (and there are 8 chargers), so this is definitely a proposed supercharger site. It is right at the I-95/I-93 interchange.

369 Washington Street, Woburn MA 01801

 

[EdA]

The number of SC's under development in MA is now blowing my mind.

 

[aronth5]

The number of SC's under development in MA is now blowing my mind.

Couldn't agree more. I wonder if there is any correlation with the number of new permits/construction locations in Massachusetts with Tesla's priority in terms of prioritizing Model 3 deliveries.to east coast cities?
Perhaps just wishful thinking.

 

[mwoz]

From the meeting minutes.

1. While the Planning Department is fully supportive of more environmentally-friendly vehicle use and energy conservation measures, staff recommends the Council explore whether there will actually be enough demand for electric car service in this relatively remote location to justify dedicating a total of eleven (11) parking spaces on site on a daily basis year-round for the purpose.
   
   I find it amusing how planning departments think they know everything, and question dedicating 11 spots for EVs. Why can't private developers do what they want on their own land? As long as it meets parking requirements they should butt out.

 

[minderbinder]

Great location for travel - gets pretty much anyone traveling north through Mass. Not a lot going on around there - a few strip malls and industrial buildings - but there's Red Robin/Starbucks/Dunkins in reasonable walking distance.

The supercharger buildout in Mass is incredible this year - the number of sites has more than doubled. I also think it's because of pending Model 3 deliveries - just check out mor-ev.org to see how much growth there's been in Massachusetts EV (and specifically Tesla) ownership.

 

[Dan_A]

From the meeting minutes.

1. While the Planning Department is fully supportive of more environmentally-friendly vehicle use and energy conservation measures, staff recommends the Council explore whether there will actually be enough demand for electric car service in this relatively remote location to justify dedicating a total of eleven (11) parking spaces on site on a daily basis year-round for the purpose.
   
   I find it amusing how planning departments think they know everything, and question dedicating 11 spots for EVs. Why can't private developers do what they want on their own land? As long as it meets parking requirements they should butt out.

Worried about too many EV parking spaces. According to LoopNet, the center has a million spaces for just a couple restaurants and a hotel.
http://www.loopnet.com/Listing/369-Washington-St-Woburn-MA/8423433/

 

[mwoz]

The number of SC's under development in MA is now blowing my mind.

Last year, Tesla's website listed an opening for a supercharger installation program manager, I guess they found someone and this is the result. Also had openings for Atlanta, Austin and Chicago so I would expect those cities to see a similar expansion.

 

[jamesinclair]

From the meeting minutes.

1. While the Planning Department is fully supportive of more environmentally-friendly vehicle use and energy conservation measures, staff recommends the Council explore whether there will actually be enough demand for electric car service in this relatively remote location to justify dedicating a total of eleven (11) parking spaces on site on a daily basis year-round for the purpose.
   
   I find it amusing how planning departments think they know everything, and question dedicating 11 spots for EVs. Why can't private developers do what they want on their own land? As long as it meets parking requirements they should butt out.

Usually the rationale would be as follows (Im assuming this is the case)

Lot was developed for use X, and according to the city ordinance, use X requires 100 parking spots (example).

So if lot X has 100 spots, and they want to "remove" 11 spots, then the planning board has to approve that amendment because now "only" 89 spots will be available to the general public in support of use X.

So it's not that the department think they know everything, is that they are bound by the law passed by a previous city council.

BTW: There are examples of superchargers that are NOT Tesla exclusive (anyone can park there) for this very reason.

 

[eladts]

Last year, Tesla's website listed an opening for a supercharger installation program manager, I guess they found someone and this is the result. Also had openings for Atlanta, Austin and Chicago so I would expect those cities to see a similar expansion.

It was a smart move by Tesla. A person local to the area can deal much better with local the municipalities than someone sitting in California.

 

[RDoc]

All these Superchargers are obviously a good thing, but how about some Service Centers? It's already pretty tight and with Model 3s coming along next year, the crunch is going to be severe.

 

[mwoz]

Usually the rationale would be as follows (Im assuming this is the case)

Lot was developed for use X, and according to the city ordinance, use X requires 100 parking spots (example).

So if lot X has 100 spots, and they want to "remove" 11 spots, then the planning board has to approve that amendment because now "only" 89 spots will be available to the general public in support of use X.

So it's not that the department think they know everything, is that they are bound by the law passed by a previous city council.

BTW: There are examples of superchargers that are NOT Tesla exclusive (anyone can park there) for this very reason.

Hi James,
As a former consulting engineer outside Boston, I spent many nights arguing in front of planning boards about parking spaces, egress, building orientation, landscaping, snow removal..... I'm just saying that if the developer says there will be enough parking, and the tenants are content, that should be enough. I've seen too many silly parking studies and time wasting exercises like justifying EV parking in my time so I had to comment.

The permitting process is challenging, and I applaude Tesla for going first. It's great to see all the progress being made around Boston, and across the country for that matter.

Back to the thread topic, Washington Street can be a traffic nightmare. At least access to 93/128 is pretty good.

 

[jamesinclair]

Hi James,
As a former consulting engineer outside Boston, I spent many nights arguing in front of planning boards about parking spaces, egress, building orientation, landscaping, snow removal..... I'm just saying that if the developer says there will be enough parking, and the tenants are content, that should be enough. I've seen too many silly parking studies and time wasting exercises like justifying EV parking in my time so I had to comment.

The permitting process is challenging, and I applaude Tesla for going first. It's great to see all the progress being made around Boston, and across the country for that matter.

Back to the thread topic, Washington Street can be a traffic nightmare. At least access to 93/128 is pretty good.

I dont agree with parking minimums, I am just explaining why the board would act in such a way, as most people arent aware of the details.

 

[MSullivan]

I see that on 12/9 this went into permit stage. Seems like the time from that to online varies considerably.

 

[cmaster]

Any updates on this? Like construction happening, etc...

 

[minderbinder]

Permit appears to have been approved, though I'll admit reading the meeting notes is somewhat tough sledding:

https://www.woburnma.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Journal-January-2-2018.pdf

The superchargers are being added as part of a hotel development on the site. The council discussion centered around fast food and traffic - there was no dispute over the Tesla chargers.

I found the developer's ad for the site here: 369 Washington St, Woburn, MA 01801 - Retail For Lease on Cityfeet.com

Shows a map with the hotel. I imagine the chargers will go in the parking lot in the upper-right-hand corner. It also says that the hotel's not finished until the end of 2018, so I imagine the superchargers won't be available before then.

The site is very easy to reach from both Rts 95 and 93, though absolutely not during morning rush hour!

Added tidbit - this is the old W.R. Grace superfund site that was portrayed in the movie "A Civil Action": A Civil Action (film) - Wikipedia

 

[PeterK]

Looks like Red Robin and Chik-Fil-A right there, and Starbucks and B Good just down the street. Pretty good for travelers passing through, doubt I’ll ever need to use it but nice to see continued expansion of the network.

 

[JWardell]

I work five minutes away and stop by once in a while to see if there's progress (and get a burger).
Aside from Red Robin, this is still a bunch of empty lots, most fenced off with a large transformer on them.
I will report when I do see any progress.

Permit appears to have been approved, though I'll admit reading the meeting notes is somewhat tough sledding:

https://www.woburnma.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Journal-January-2-2018.pdf

The superchargers are being added as part of a hotel development on the site. The council discussion centered around fast food and traffic - there was no dispute over the Tesla chargers.

I found the developer's ad for the site here: 369 Washington St, Woburn, MA 01801 - Retail For Lease on Cityfeet.com

Shows a map with the hotel. I imagine the chargers will go in the parking lot in the upper-right-hand corner. It also says that the hotel's not finished until the end of 2018, so I imagine the superchargers won't be available before then.

The site is very easy to reach from both Rts 95 and 93, though absolutely not during morning rush hour!

Added tidbit - this is the old W.R. Grace superfund site that was portrayed in the movie "A Civil Action": A Civil Action (film) - Wikipedia

Thank you for digging up the info on the developers. Unless they put in the superchargers first, it could be a long while considering construction on most of this hasn't started. Great to know a Chik-fil-A is coming though!

These lots are just a tiny portion of the superfund site that covers a big corner of the town. Here's a map:
https://ofmpub.epa.gov/apex/cimc/f?p=CIMC:MAP:0::NO::P71_IDSEARCH:SF_SITE_ID|0100749

 

[GoodCheer]

(...) Tesla's priority in terms of prioritizing Model 3 deliveries.to east coast cities?

I would guess that the activity is driven by M3 reservation densities, since the installations will probably take a couple of years to all get built out.
My understanding is that location based delivery priority (after just doing local/employee/Tesla VIPs) will go pretty much by reservation date.

 

[GoodCheer]

I work five minutes away

I used to work right there on Forbes Road. That would have been handy indeed. (Although during rush hour, those few hundred meters could take an astonishingly long time).

 

[minderbinder]

Stopped by today. Hotel construction is progressing (steel girders). No sign of chargers, which isn’t surprising considering the state of the parking lots. Doubt we’ll see much before the end of the year, but I’ll check in again in November when I change my summer tires back to winters at Hogan tire down the street.