Morgan Junction Electric Vehicle Charging Station

Project Description

We are building a new electric vehicle (EV) charging station with a new parking lot and eight EV chargers. This project brings EV charging closer to neighborhood retail, services, and major arterial roads in Morgan Junction.

Location

The former Morgan Junction substation property is located at 4118 Southwest Morgan Street in Seattle.

Project Details

• Located at the former Morgan Junction substation, this new EV charging lot will feature eight EV charging spots.
• Anyone with an electric vehicle will be able to use the charging station. Drivers will need to pay a fee to charge. The fee is designed to pay for the electricity and cost of building and maintaining the station.
• We will also plant trees on the property to provide healthy, long-term greenery for the neighborhood. 

Typical Equipment

Example of our EV fast charging station in Tukwila, Wash.

 
Example of typical service cabinets and transformers installed on site.

Property Overview & History

• The property is located at 4118 SW Morgan Street. It is approximately 4,520 square feet and is zoned as Neighborhood Commercial. The site is a vacant and relatively flat lot.
• We purchased the property in 1945 to construct a new substation, which became one of many 4-kilovolt (kV) substations throughout our service area. These smaller substations were eventually phased out as we developed larger, more reliable substations. In 2002, we decommissioned the Morgan Junction Substation and removed all utility equipment.
• The soil at the property was contaminated from previous uses. We hired a contractor to perform environmental cleanup in 2022. They removed the remaining soil contamination and existing vegetation, and cleaned the area to appropriate levels. Replacement trees will be planted at a later date.
• This project is part of an initiative to increase access to public EV chargers throughout our service area. There are no public EV fast chargers in the Morgan Junction neighborhood.
• Customers were invited to provide their feedback on this proposal via an online survey. This survey ended on April 22, 2022, with 74% of survey respondents voicing support for the project and 13% of respondents voicing opposition. We used community feedback and survey results to guide the design and development of the charging station.

Trees & Landscaping

• Many of the existing trees are dying or in poor health. Because the contamination requiring removal extends throughout most of their roots, the existing trees will not likely survive after the environmental cleanup, even with the contractor using best practices for tree preservation to remove the contaminated soil. We will therefore remove the trees on the property to ensure that all contamination is cleaned and allow for the construction of the charging station and new tree and vegetation plantings.
• As part of the charging station project, we are planting replacement trees at the property to provide healthy, long-term greenery for the neighborhood. Crews will replace each removed tree with two new trees, per City of Seattle Executive Order 03-05. We will also plant some replacement trees at other locations because of the limited space at the former substation property.
• We're replacing the existing chain link fence with a decorative fence along the alley and around the planned transformer at the eastern edge of the property. Crews will also plant shrubs in the north and south parts of the property to beautify and provide a visual barrier. Where possible, we will use native plants that offer local environmental benefits, such as for pollinator species.

Schedule

We expect construction to begin in late 2025.