LONG BEACH — Councilors last week formally accepted a state grant to increase the city’s arsenal of publicly accessible electric vehicle chargers.

The Long Beach City Council voted to authorize city officials to enter into agreement with the Washington State Department of Ecology for a $100,000 grant that will go toward the purchase and installation of 10 EV chargers. The grant does not require any matching funds from the city and expires in June of 2026.

The 10 Level II chargers, consisting of five pedestals with each carrying two ports, have an estimated cost of $67,000. While Level I chargers are primarily used for residential charging, taking 40-50 hours to charge an electric vehicle from empty, the Level II chargers that the city has secured funds to purchase are more commonly used for public use and take 4-10 hours to fully charge an EV. The more expensive direct current (DC) fast chargers can take as little as 20 minutes to charge an EV to 80%.

Long Beach Deputy City Administrator Ariel Smith told the council last week that they are hoping to install the new chargers near the arch on the Bolstad beach approach. She said the grant’s remaining $33,000 could go toward assisting utility upgrades, and has inquired with the PUD about that possibility.

Long Beach, in partnership with the Port of Peninsula, installed the first public charging station in 2017 at the parking lot at Oregon Avenue South and 4th Street SE, which remain the only publicly accessible chargers in Long Beach. The city in recent years has honed in on attempts to win state and federal funding for the installation of additional EV chargers, saying more and more tourists are considering accessibility to chargers when deciding where to travel.

“Long Beach would like to invite these visitors to a rural community that can provide the amenities necessary for a comfortable stay,” the city stated in its application to Ecology.

Earlier this year, Energy Northwest received nearly $15 million through a federal program to develop more than 50 chargers across 12 charging locations along U.S. 101 in western Washington and coastal Oregon, including two charging stations in Ilwaco and Raymond that will contain six DC fast charging ports each.

A 68-page report released this summer from University of Washington graduate students projected that more than 20% of all cars visiting Pacific County will be EVs by 2034, and estimated that 110 Level II and 16 DC fast chargers will need to be built in Long Beach and Ilwaco to keep up with demand. Plausible locations include the Port of Ilwaco, Ilwaco City Hall, Long Beach’s public parking lots along Oregon Avenue South and the Bolstad beach approach.

Lift station repairs

The council at last week’s meeting also voted to authorize Mayor Sue Svendsen to enter into an agreement with a contractor for repairs to the city’s main lift station.

Eight firms submitted a bid in late November for work on the main lift station’s manhole, with Woodland-based Slateco coming in with the lowest bid at about $168,000 — well below the $242,000 estimate from Gray & Osborne, the city’s engineer. Lift stations are large pumping facilities that are needed to effectively transport sewage in this area because of our high groundwater level and flat terrain.

Long Beach has been intent on repairing and replacing its lift stations in recent years, winning a combination of state and federal funds that have covered the bulk of the overall costs. Without those grants, city officials say the work would otherwise be financed by incorporating additional increases into the sewer rate.

Smith said the repairs to the main lift station’s manhole is being covered by a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.