I was relieved to have the San Diego city inspector "release" (approve) my Blink EVSE today. He took the card showing the property line setback, the printout showing the building line setback, and the wiring diagram and load calculation sheets that SunWest emailed me. In addition, the SunWest installers had left me a sheet from SDGE - "Electric Overhead Meter & Service Location (Construction Copy)" which had a site plan depicted and instructions for the Service Attachment Point and/or Meter Location: "Customer to install 40 amp sub-meter base with lockable cover on SOUTHEAST wall, WEST of existing main meter panel location. Sub-meter base must be within 25 feet of existing main panel on the same wall and must provide and maintain all required clearances. City inspection and approval required." The inspector also took that sheet - seemed to be looking for that site plan. I remember an SDGE guy had come to our house a few weeks before SunWest and wanted to look at the utility panel - he must have prepared this sheet for SunWest.
Fortunately our house has a pretty long driveway as the inspector seemed to be saying that "the driveway is only a way for a car to get to the garage - it's not a parking lot". (This despite half the people in my neighborhood always having one or more cars parked in their driveway - such a restriction would be discriminating against EV owners.) He measured the distance from the curb to the garage and pronounced the distance good enough. This was the second outdoor EVSE he had inspected, and he said the other one did not pass. If that was yours RevBrent, did you have that SDGE construction worksheet - perhaps from Baker Electric? That might be the site plan that the inspector was looking for.
The inspector then had me open up all the panels that had been installed (or I would have had to call SunWest to open them). The inspectors apparently must be hands-off now (after an accident occurred some time ago). When he was satisfied everything was copacetic, he left a voicemail for SDGE that the EVSE sub-meter was released. I will probably call SDGE as well to make sure the second meter installation can be done quickly (trickle charging is so slow!).
RevBrent wrote:rhover wrote:Has anyone else in San Diego encountered city inspectors restricting outside installation of electric chargers if the outdoor parking spot is not big enough and the building is not set back far enough from the street?
I was contacted last week by Bill Blindell from Ecotality a week after Sunwest installed a Blink charger outside my garage. He said there's a code restriction only in San Diego (of all the cities where they've installed) that said the parking spot (minimum 18' x 8-9.5' depending on surrounding walls) for an external charger has to be a certain distance from the street, and until I got clearance documents from the city, they couldn't call for the inspector to check my installation, and so I wouldn't be able to get the 2nd meter either. He said I would need to go to the San Diego Development Services office and the Zoning Office to get a print out and a card indicating that the Property Line setback (often 10') and the Building Line setback (often 15') were OK. He said this issue has held up a small number of installs/inspections in San Diego and that changing the ordinance was unlikely...
...I just got off the phone with Bill Blindell again today, and he said the city inspector will apparently be looking for paperwork showing Property Setback (something like 10' away from the street) + Building Setback (perhaps 15') + Legal Parking Space (8-18' depending on orientation and obstructing walls?) before the building and electric charger - so possibly 43' total from the street. Hopefully anyone else who is planning exterior installation won't have any difficulties with this issue. If you have any experience with this, I would love to hear about it.
Yes, I spoke with Lynne Landers at Baker Electric earlier this week and had the same discussion. So, like you, I went downtown and had to get my property line and setback information. Luckily for me it was all okay, but only by about 2 feet. Some of the complications in my setup is that I have a 1924 Craftsman home and so most of the ordinances were not in place when my home was planned and built! But again, luckily my driveway is a "legal parking place." Sheesh-