Lititz Borough Council will vote Tuesday night whether to add rules on electric vehicle charging stations to its zoning ordinance, which could make it the first municipality in Lancaster County to officially regulate the stations.
The regulations are aimed at allowing charging stations, while limiting impact on neighbors.
“We want to have some allowances for residents and businesses to have them if they choose,” said Elijah Yearick, the borough’s director of planning and community development.
The board meets at 7 p.m. at council chambers, 7 S. Broad St.
The ordinance amendment would allow charging stations throughout the borough. However, chargers along public streets and outside single-family homes would have more regulation than those in parking lots.
The Lancaster County Planning Commission said Lititz’s proposed regulations are the first that they have seen from any municipality in the county. Will Clark, the commission’s director of land use and transportation, says the proposed regulations really deal with the parking spaces that electric vehicles occupy while charging.
“How we allocate or separate who can use the land is the primary issue,” Clark said.
Electric vehicle charging can take hours, and planners will have to look at how that affects parking on their streets and in parking lots, he said.
That issue is particularly important when it comes to on-street parking. Chargers installed in a public right-of-way would require conditional use approval from borough council.
Yearick said council would consider each request individually because neighborhoods where on-street parking is the only option present unique challenges for charging electric vehicles. The regulations state that a charger on a public street would have to be made available to the public, because on-street parking spaces can’t be reserved for a single resident.
“There are places that don’t have off-street parking, and there’s not a good solution for that without almost reserving parking spaces on the street,” Yearick said.
The borough also doesn’t want chargers to limit the use of the sidewalk, or drivers’ visibility at intersections.
In its ordinance toolkit for electric vehicle charging stations, the state Department of Transportation suggests that municipalities provide charging stations in public parking areas for people who do not have off-street parking. Lancaster Parking Authority has installed chargers in multiple downtown parking garages for people who live and work in the city. Lititz does not have any municipal-owned charging stations.
Stations located in driveways or garages, or in parking lots for apartments and businesses, don’t require special approval from council. But they would be regulated.
Single-family homes with off-street parking would be required to install the charging station inside a garage if there is one.
Apartment buildings would be allowed to install stations, but only for use by residents and their guests. Businesses could add charging stations to up to 20% of their parking spaces. They can add chargers to up to 50% of spaces if they get a special exception from the zoning hearing board.
According to plugshare.com, there are currently four electric vehicle charging stations in the borough. But with the number of electric vehicle models on the market increasing, there is a belief that more are on the way.
The Biden administration has said it wants 60% to 70% of new vehicle sales to be electric by 2050. That will require a much larger network of chargers.
Yearick says that the regulations could change with new technology and increased adoption.
“We’re at the beginning of this, but at the same time, wanted to have some regulation. If someone wants to put something on their property, it’s provided for,” he said.
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February 28, 2023 at 05:00PM
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