Information from Seattle City Light

City Light is proposing to build a new EV charging station on the former substation property at 4118 Southwest Morgan Street with up to eight EV chargers in a new surface parking lot.  The property was formerly known as the Morgan Junction Substation. 

Vehicle access will be from Fauntleroy Way SW.

Click here to take the survey on the proposal

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 the cost of building the station.

Construction could begin as soon as the 4th quarter of 2022. The project will take approximately three months to complete.

This is considered a good location for an EV charging station because it is close to neighborhood retail, services, and major arterial roads. There are currently no public EV fast chargers in the Morgan Junction neighborhood.

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.
• City Light purchased the property in 1945 to construct a new substation, which became one of many 4-kilovolt (kV) substations throughout City Light's service area. The older 4kV substations were eventually phased out as the utility developed larger, more reliable substations. City Light decommissioned the Morgan Junction Substation in 2002 and removed all utility equipment.
• The soil at the property is contaminated from previous uses and is planned for environmental cleanup in 2022. City Light's contractors will remove the remaining contaminants from the soil and clean the area to appropriate levels.
• Seattle City Light is pursuing this project as part of an initiative to increase access to public EV chargers throughout the utility's service area. There are no public electric vehicle fast chargers in the Morgan Junction neighborhood.

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. City Light 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, City Light will plant 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. The utility will plant some replacement trees at other locations because of the limited space at the former substation property.
• To improve the property's appearance, City Light proposes to remove the existing chain link fence and replace it with a decorative fence along the alley and around the planned transformer at the eastern edge of the property. Shrubs are proposed for the north and south parts of the property to beautify and provide a visual barrier. Crews will plant native groundcover in non-paved areas. Where possible, City Light will use vegetation that offers local ecological benefits, such as for pollinator species.