Electric Vehicle Code Amendments approved by Mayor and Council
Published on August 28, 2022
On Aug. 23, Mayor and Council approved an amendment to the Unified Development Code to ensure that new commercial development in Tucson is Electric Vehicle (EV) ready. These new regulations would require all new commercial development, multi-family, office, and retail to include EV stations or outlets, as well as conduit to support future expansion of EV capacity.
These new requirements come after more than a year of stakeholder and public engagement, community input, and technical analysis to develop the proposal. The new regulations will go into effect on Dec.1, 2022.
The new requirements are shown below:
On June 22, 2021, Mayor and Council voted 7-0 to direct Planning and Development Services (PDSD) staff to initiate the process of amending necessary codes to require EV outlets for multi-family residential and commercial development. The code amendment followed a change to the Building Code approved at the same date to require all new residential (one-and two-family) construction to be EV ready. The Building Code change was one of the first implementation items resulting from the Electric Vehicle Readiness Roadmap adopted by Mayor and Council on April 20, 2021.
From July 2021 through May 2022, Planning and Development Services conducted research, consultation, stakeholder engagement, and public outreach to form amendments to commercial parking requirements.
On April 19, 2022, Mayor and Council held a public hearing to review the proposed Parking UDC Code Text Amendments, including both the Individual Parking Plan (IPP) and EV readiness. Mayor and Council continued the public hearing with direction to PDSD staff to conduct further stakeholder outreach.
A revised proposal was presented to Mayor and Council on July 12, 2022.
After the public hearing closed, Mayor and Council discussed the proposed components separately. The amendment related to IPP eligibility was adopted. Mayor and Council postponed a vote on EV readiness to allow for an additional round of stakeholder feedback.
Additional stakeholder feedback was collected through an online survey and a virtual meeting was held on Aug. 12, 2022. The feedback was gathered, and a revised proposed ordinance was presented to Mayor and Council on Aug. 23, which was approved 7-0. You can review the agenda materials and watch the meeting on YouTube.
These code changes support the City's climate action and adaptation response, and Mayor and Council's climate emergency declaration.