River Forest officials took a major step toward adding electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, voting unanimously at the June 9 village board meeting to award a contract to Christopher B. Burke Engineering Ltd. for the construction, equipment purchase and equipment installation for an electric vehicle charging station project.
The total cost of the project is $993,226 but the village’s cost is estimated to be $343,535 with the balance being paid through a $370,000 Illinois Environmental Protection Agency grant and $308,252 in Commonwealth Edison rebates.
The charging stations will be installed at three village-owned lots, the village-owned portion of the CVS Pharmacy lot, 7929 W. North Ave.; the parking lot at 400 Thatcher Ave., which is used for Metra parking; and the parking lot at 418 Franklin Ave.
In a memo to Matt Walsh, village administrator, Jack Bielak, director of public works and engineering, and Seth Jansen, management analyst, explained that each location must have the electrical capacity and infrastructure to support the installation of the charging stations. In his presentation to officials June 9, Jansen said the grant is coming from the state and not the federal government, which alleviated concerns about possibly losing funding.
Bielak said staff members would be placing the order “in the coming days” with an estimated completion in late August or early September.
In November, officials approved a contract for electrical and civil design services to Burke Engineering for the project. At the time of that contract’s approval, staff noted this project is ideal for “design-build” given the limited certified suppliers of electrical vehicle charging stations and limited sitework involved, Bielak and Jansen said in the memo. “Design-build” is where the design and construction of a project is contracted through a single vendor, an approach that can result in a shorter timeframe for project completion, they added.
Burke solicited bids from electrical contractors who are certified EV charging station installers.
The equipment includes eight Direct Current Level 3 Fast Charging Stations and five Dual-Port Level 2 Charging Stations. Because of limitations of grant eligible costs, some costs associated with the equipment purchase are not eligible for grant funds nor can they be applied to the village’s 20 percent match requirement for the grant. Burke projects that $341,479 of the $370,000 grant can be applied to the project, though staff members anticipate the village will be able to recoup the full amount of the grant through additional coordination with the IEPA.
Burke and five other firms submitted proposals in September and October and staff members interviewed three of the firms in November, eventually determining Burker to be the firm “best suited to complete the project,” Bielak and Jansen said in a previous memo to Walsh.
In recommending the contract be awarded to Burke, Bielak and Jansen said the firm has “significant experience” with EV charging installation projects, including navigating IEPA grant requirements and the ComEd rebate program. They also noted that Burke has performed similar work for the village in the past.
River Forest will receive funding through the second round of Driving a Cleaner Illinois grant program.