The City of Pacifica partnered with Stanford University student consultants to develop an actionable plan focusing on electric vehicle implementation within the city.
In June, Stanford University students concluded a two quarter long “local government in action” public policy course which included a project in partnership with the City of Pacifica and two other local agencies. The student-led course, facilitated by retired Mountain View City Manager Dan Rich, now a Lecturer and Local Government Advisor at Stanford, began with a one quarter overview of local government and then had a quarter focused on client projects which allowed students to gain real-world local government experience. When Pacifica City Manager Kevin Woodhouse was contacted earlier in the year by Mr. Rich about the potential for a Pacifica-focused project, he welcomed the opportunity to provide students tangible local government experience while also providing the City of Pacifica with valuable student consultant resources. A quick survey of potential Pacifica projects with the City’s Executive Team and the Stanford leadership team and students honed in on the timely, important, evolving and complex topic of developing an electric vehicle implementation strategy for the City of Pacifica and its benefits to tourism and economic growth.
The team of three Stanford University students, Lauren Illa, Virginia Miller, and Sebastian Andrews met bi-weekly with Assistant City Manager Yulia Carter and Economic Development Management Analyst Alyssa Barranti to discuss the project timeline, findings, deliverables, and updates.
The project consisted of researching funding sources, best practices, incentives, and regulations for constructing electric vehicle infrastructure. Students provided policy recommendations for the implementation of an EVSE network with an emphasis on boosting tourism and economic growth.
The students outlined the current state of Pacifica’s EV network, explored what the city would look like as an all electric vehicle city, recommended specific policies for city code, expansion of public chargers and recommendations to encourage private installation of EV chargers.
The students concluded the two quarter long project with a live, in – person presentation to city staff including the City Manager, Assistant City Manager, Mayor, Mayor pro Tem, Department Executives, and Committee and Commission members. The presentation itself was a great learning experience for the students!
“This type of innovative partnership between a City, University, and its students is a win-win-win arrangement, benefiting the City, the Stanford Program, and the students themselves,” said City Manager Woodhouse, continuing “With today’s local government resource challenges, we need to be promoting innovative partnerships and developing young leaders to experience the importance, meaningfulness, and excitement of local government work.”
