CLAYTON — The St. Louis County Council on Tuesday gave preliminary approval to a measure that would relax recent requirements forcing some property owners to add electric vehicle charging stations to parking lots.
Those requirements, adopted late last year, drew sharp criticism from developers, small-business owners and others, who said they were too onerous and costly, discouraging new investment.
Councilwoman Kelli Dunaway, the 2nd District Democrat who had championed the requirements, conceded Tuesday that they were “getting in the way of businesses opening and moving and operating in the way they want to be.”
The council in October required the addition of EV charging stations into most new construction and major building or parking rehabs in unincorporated areas. The ordinance, approved by a council majority of Democrats in a 4-3 vote, was meant to prepare properties for an expected increase in the use of electric vehicles and incentivize their use as environmentally friendly alternatives.
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But the county ordinance had the unintended effect of also requiring businesses that changed ownership — without any new construction or remodeling — to add electrical charging stations, Dunaway said.
She introduced a new bill that would narrow the application of the law to new construction or renovations of parking lots of 31 spaces or more, with exemptions for restaurants and other businesses visited by customers for a short window of time.
“The current EV legislation is hurting people and hindering small businesses and because that is not what I ever wanted or intended, I’m proposing some changes,” Dunaway said. “I know how to admit when I’ve made a mistake and I’m willing to work just as hard to fix it as I did to make it in the first place.”
The council voted 5-1 to give the bill first-round approval.
Councilman Mark Harder, R-7th District, said Dunaway’s new bill was “better” than the current requirements but voted against advancing the measure, saying he preferred a competing bill he has introduced to repeal the requirements entirely.
“There is a bill that I have that would just make this whole legislation go away so that we can better look at the future of this whole project,” he said.
Councilman Ernie Trakas, R-6th District, said he was willing to give the bill first-round approval pending more review but “that in no way guarantees that I will vote for final passage.”
Council Chair Rita Days, D-1st District, urged Dunaway and Harder to work on a compromise.
County and state Republicans have said they did not want to support a government requirement for charging stations, saying the market would respond as demand for electric vehicles increased. Earlier this month, the GOP-controlled Missouri House gave first-round approval to a plan by Rep. Jim Murphy, who represents parts of south St. Louis County, that would dump the county ordinance and similar laws approved last year in St. Louis, Brentwood and Richmond Heights.
Walker honored
The council on Tuesday also adopted a resolution honoring Cora Faith Walker, former county policy chief and state representative, and offering formal condolences to her husband, Tim, and their families. Walker, of Ferguson, died March 11. She was 37.
Walker represented Ferguson and other parts of north St. Louis County in the Missouri Legislature from 2017 to 2019, when she resigned to lead policy direction for County Executive Sam Page. In that role, she guided the county’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the distribution of federal pandemic aid for critical services.
The council began the Tuesday meeting with a moment of silence for Walker. A resolution honoring Walker remembered her as a “fierce advocate, a bright policy maker, whip-smart, and committed to the broad scope of diversity, a protector and friend leading with an iron fist in a velvet glove.”
Dunaway, a close friend of Walker, said she had lost “someone I talked to every day, someone who I relied on more than I ever knew, for policy, friendship and advice.”
“I am a better person because of you, Cora,” Dunaway said.
Councilwoman Lisa Clancy, D-5th District, another close friend of Walker, said she had been comforted over the past week at the outpouring of condolences from local government officials, nonprofit leaders and advocacy groups.
Walker was a “friend, colleague and mentor,” Clancy said, who “shared a passion for social justice and a penchant for good, evidence-based policy.”
“She was the mentor I always wanted and she came just at the right time,” Clancy said. “She always left me with a mantra that rings true every day: ‘Good policy is good politics.”
Councilwoman Shalonda Webb, who joined the council in early 2021, said she and Walker had a sharp disagreement about communication between the council and Page’s office in her first days on the council. Afterward, Webb said, Cora left her a gift of a Barbie doll set representing Black women in elected office.
“Even though we had a hard conversation, we still respected each other,” said Webb, a Democrat who represents the 4th District. “It wasn’t about policy, it was just her as a good person.”
Days said Walker and she were “aligned” in their backgrounds as Black women in government and their support for health care and women’s reproductive rights.
“I am only asking that she rest in peace knowing that many of the issues she championed, many of the causes she worked so hard for, we will carry them on in her absence,” Days said.
Walker was pronounced dead at a hospital after collapsing outside her hotel room at Loews Hotel at Ballpark Village in downtown St. Louis.
Interim Public Safety Director Daniel Isom said Monday that there is no evidence of “foul play” in Walker’s death and the St. Louis medical examiner’s office previously reported that it found no signs of trauma or injury. A full report is pending toxicology results.
The hotel Walker stayed at was the site of an after-party for some people who had attended a 50th birthday party for St. Louis Mayor Tishaura O. Jones, a close personal friend of Walker.
Councilman Tim Fitch, R-3rd District, has called for the council to adopt a nonbinding resolution calling for the Missouri Highway Patrol to investigate Walker’s death, arguing that her friendship with Jones creates a conflict of interest for city personnel.
Fitch, who said he was returning from travel in Ireland on Tuesday, was not in attendance at the meeting.
