Home&Real Estate
OPEN HOME GUIDE 54 Also online at PaloAltoOnline.com
Home Front
TREE WORKSHOP ... Arborist Brian Kempf will lead a free workshop, “The Art of Young Tree Pruning,� from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 15, at Nixon Elementary School, 1711 Stanford Ave., Stanford. Participants, who are asked to bring pruning shears and gloves, will also be asked to sign up for a community service/ training day to practice their new skills while pruning young trees. Information: Canopy at 650-9646110 or www.canopy.org EASY COMPOST ... The City of Palo Alto will offer a free workshop, “Compost Basics,� from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, June 15, at The EcoCenter, 2560 Embarcadero Road, Palo Alto. The Earth Machine compost bin and worm bin and composting accessories will be available for sale. Information (and registration — required because of space limitations): 650329-2241 or 408-918-4640, www. reducewaste.org or Compost@ aem.sccgov.org
SUNSET HIKES ... Filoli is introducing two-hour Sunset Hikes on varied terrain, led by nature education docents from 6 to 8 p.m., Wednesdays, June 19 and Aug. 14, and docent-led Evening Orchard Walks, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 19. Reservations (and sturdy shoes) are required for both. Fees are $15 for nonmembers, $10 members; $10 for nonmember child (age 5 to 17), $5 member child. No strollers can be accommodated. Filoli is located at 86 Canada Road, Woodside. Information: www.filoli.org or 650364-8300, ext. 508
Send notices of news and events related to real estate, interior design, home improvement and gardening to Home Front, Palo Alto Weekly, P.O. Box 1610, Palo Alto, CA 94302, or email cblitzer@paweekly.com. Deadline is one week before publication.
A charging station for public use sits outside of Sven and Kate Thesen’s Palo Alto home.
Palo Alto works to streamline permitting process for EV chargers
by Elena Kadvany
It begins when an applicant submits a set of plans for a chargn environmentally con- ing station, which then go through the city’s plan-check proscious Palo Alto, electric cess. After a few revisions, the city usually approves them, with cars are on the rise. a five-day turn-around time, Development Services Director And because every electric Peter Pirnejad said. car needs a charger, more and After the plans receive the city’s stamp of approval, a permore Palo Altans are choos- mit is issued and inspections can be scheduled. Inspections ing to install a are typically available the next day, Pirnejad charger of their said. After inspections are done, construction own at home, putting a spotlight on the city’s can start and the resident gets a final permitted permitting process for electric vehicle (EV) charging station. charging stations. Although Thesen finds the process reasonSven Thesen, an energy and electric-vehicle able, he and other Palo Alto electric-car owners consultant who previously ran Pacific Gas and find issue with the city’s permitting fees. Electric Company’s car department, has in“They (city inspectors) poke around and open stalled two chargers at his Palo Alto home — up boxes and things like that. Some jurisdicone for private use on the side of his driveway tions would say this is unnecessary because the and one on the sidewalk, the first curbside resiwiring is so simple, but this is Palo Alto and dential charger in the nation. they take care of us,� Thesen said. “But I think “The charger on our driveway was a normal we need to figure out a way to drop the $250 process,� Thesen said. price.� The curbside charger, which any EV driver The current fees for residential charging stacan pull up to and plug in, is mounted on city tions include an $89 base electrical permit fee, property so took Thesen down a more compli$160 EV charging station fee and a recordscated path to get it permitted and installed. Sven and Kate Thesen have retention fee of $4 per every plan sheet. The city’s EV charger permitting process a personal electric-vehicle Pirnejad said the city is reviewing these fees is twofold, requiring both electric utility and charging station in their building permit reviews. Palo Alto driveway. (continued on page 39)
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Katie Brigham
TOP DOLLAR ... And, not so surprising, the most expensive house in Silicon Valley sold in April was a fivebedroom, five-bath approximately 4,900-square-foot home in Palo Alto that sold for $10 million, according to the Coldwell Banker Brokerage’s monthly luxury report. N
Katie Brigham
GROW MORE VEGGIES ... John Jeavons, author of “How to Grow More Vegetables� and executive director of Ecology Action, will teach “All About ‘Grow Biointensive’� — parts one and two on Saturday, June 15, at Common Ground, 559 College Ave., Palo Alto. Part One, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., will focus on the eight essential aspects of the program; Part Two, from 2 to 4 p.m., will deal with in-depth studies and Grow Biointensive internships. Each class costs $31. Information: 650-493-6072 or www.commongroundinpaloalto.org
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