Murphys, CA…My name is Christopher Buttner and I have been a full time resident of Murphys since mid-2015. I am the son of a firefighter. I have over three decades of experience in event safety protocols for arenas, amusement parks, convention centers, and cruise ships.

The Butte Wildfire of September 2015 was a PG&E causation. PG&E has been blamed for more than 30 wildfires since 2017 that destroyed over 23,000 homes and businesses and killed over 117 people.

I have grave concerns shared by many in Calaveras regarding the public safety and extreme fire risk posed to the Arnold community by the Tesla Supercharger Station under construction in the northwest corner of Arnold’s Meadowmont Center, following the hastily approved Electric Vehicle Charging Station (EVCS) permitting process six years ago.

There is considerable acknowledged value in Calaveras County attracting and integrating “green” EVCS infrastructure. A properly sited, reviewed, inspected and approved Tesla Supercharger Station is a very desirable addition to Arnold. Regrettably, the poorly selected siting of the facility on the parcel presents multiple public safety concerns that were left unaddressed by the fast-track ministerial permit approval.

On July 25th, I submitted a detailed nine-page written analysis about this Tesla Supercharger station to the Calaveras Board of Supervisors.

Points of concern include the permit process conditional exclusion of fire officials from participation in the review and approval of this high-risk facility, the proximity of this facility to residences, trees, large capacity propane tanks, and unregulated traffic.

The root cause of this problem extends back to January 24, 2017, when a flippantly discussed and unanimously approved agenda item for the EVCS Ordinance was introduced.

Supervisors Tofanelli, District 1, and Garamendi, District 2, voted to approve the EVCS Ordinance. The video record of the ordinance approval process is a shameful and lasting indictment of the continuing failure of this county’s government to recognize and anticipate risk to public safety before its citizen’s insist.
YouTube.com – 2:37 – https://youtu.be/yX-xa6W7Esg

A high-risk EVCS is now under construction. The community insists upon a temporary injunction until a thorough review by fire officials, law enforcement and public works has occurred to mitigate the risk and assure the community of public safety.

Further, the EVCS Ordinance must be repealed and replaced to insert fire officials in the permitting and approval process for all non-residential EVCS installations.

A detailed EVCS Repeal and Replace Ordinance request was emailed to the Calaveras County Board of Supervisors, and the Calaveras County Planning and Building Departments, on behalf of the Citizens of Arnold and Calaveras, on August 7, 2023, and I addressed this to the Calaveras County Board of Supervisors during General Public Comment period on the morning of August 8, 2023.

Arguments for an urgent analysis of county government negligence providing factual answers to address and alleviate citizen concerns, are detailed in multiple blog posts at Calaveras2024Election.com, beginning with Part 1 at: https://calaveras2024election.com/blog/f/arnold-community-alarmed-by-tesla-supercharger-station-location

Respectfully, Christopher Buttner Director and Founder
Calaveras2024Election.com