The city council recently voted unanimously to change the city's municipal code to read, "a minimum of one alternative fuel station shall be provided for every four petroleum-based fuel pumps."
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In other words, a station where 10 pumps are proposed will need to have at least two of them that dispense either hydrogen, compressed natural gas, or other alternative fuel, or be an electric vehicle charging station.
"EV usage in the city is growing," said Jennifer Nakamura, the city's deputy director of planning. "They want to know where they can go and charge their EVs outside of their homes."
The new regulations don't go as far as some cities in northern California. For example, Petaluma has banned all future gas stations inside its city limits.
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"While we didn't necessarily feel that was the right decision for us as a community, we wanted to provide variety and choice in future development," said Nakamura, who said the city council felt the time was right to make changes to the way the city deals with gas stations.
"Especially given the governor's recent orders to stop selling combustion fueled vehicles in 2035, (we thought) maybe this was a good time to take a pause and rethink what we want gas stations to look like."