By Thane Grauel

WESTPORT — It appears electric vehicle charging stations outside the soon-to-open Amazon Fresh store were not what the town ordered.

So back they’ll go.

The Planning and Zoning Department made it clear when granting a zoning permit for the two EV stations that digital screens for advertising were not to be installed, according to P&Z Commission Chairwoman Daniel Dobin.

But that’s what Volta Charging, a San Francisco-based company, appears to have installed in front of the new supermarket in the Post Plaza.

The company also had sought to add the seven-foot-tall advertising kiosk/charging stations in front of the Stop & Shop farther up Post Road East, but was rebuked by the commission at a pre-application hearing in January.

The large, two-sided TV-like displays were likened to Las Vegas by one board member.

On Friday, Dobin said those large digital advertising screens, installed outside the Amazon store at 1076 Post Road East, had to go.

“These digital screens were not approved by the P&Z Commission nor are they permitted under Westport’s zoning regulations,” Dobin told the Westport Journal.

“The P&Z staff specifically noted on the zoning permit for the EV stations that no advertising or screens would be permitted,” she said.

“Staff informed the applicant of the violation this morning,” Dobin said Friday. “The applicant responded that these digital screens were installed in error and will be removed.”

“I have instructed staff that no ZCC should be issued until the digital screens are removed,” Dobin said of a zoning certificate of compliance.

Volta told the commission at the January hearing that advertising is how the charging stations are financially feasible.

The company has more than 2,800 charging stations, which are typically free to use, in states across the country.

There are several in other area towns.

Fairfield has two Volta charging stations at the Black Rock Shopping Center on Black Rock Turnpike.

Norwalk has 13 Volta stations — nine at the SoNo Collection and two more each at the Stop & Shops on Connecticut Avenue and Main Avenue.

Ridgefield has two at Copps Hill Plaza on Danbury Road.

The incident marks another setback for signs and branding outside the Amazon Fresh market. Earlier this year, the retailing giant was forced to redesign its standard sign for the supermarket chain after two town boards rejected its initial application.

The full zoning permit for the 1076 Post Road East charging stations appears below.

Thane Grauel, the Westport Journal executive editor, grew up in Westport and has been a journalist in Fairfield County and beyond more than three decades. Learn more about us here.