The New Rochelle Planning Board on Sept. 30 approved a site-plan and special-permit application from Electrify America to install an electric-vehicle charging station at 8 Joyce Road in the LSR zone.

James Coyle, presenting for Electrify America, described the proposal as a configuration of 10 single-port fast chargers paired with five power cabinets, one 2500-amp switchgear, a utility transformer to be provided by Con Edison and two LED light poles. Coyle said the site will include landscaping screening around technical equipment and that the equipment communicates by cellular network to allow remote diagnostics and dispatch for repairs.

Board members raised several operational and circulation issues. Members asked for the transformer and switchgear heights (the applicant said about 4½–5 feet for the transformer and 6 feet for switchgear), questioned whether lighting details demonstrate dark-sky compliance, and discussed how vehicles would queue for chargers in a mid-parking-lot, two-sided configuration. One board member noted that queuing spaces should not block drive aisles and requested clarification whether adjacent parking spaces would serve as queuing lanes. The applicant said existing adjacent stalls would be available for queuing but that no formal traffic study had been performed.

City staff attached conditions before voting. Conditions recorded by staff include coordination with the New York State Department of Transportation if work is needed in the state right-of-way, maintenance of a minimum 20-foot lane for fire apparatus, review of sight lines and circulation with the traffic engineer prior to building permit, a city-engineer review of the two-sided station layout (to assess queuing and visibility where two drive aisles are implicated), and confirmation of dark-sky lighting compliance. The board approved both the site-plan and the special-permit applications under those conditions.