Bensalem, PA Parking Rules: EV Charging (2026)
Key Facts
- Where allowed
- PCD-UD convenience store with fuel dispensing
- Status
- Optional accessory amenity, not required
- Site frontage rule
- At least 300 ft on a major arterial road
- Highway proximity rule
- Within 500 ft of a limited-access exit ramp
- Spacing rule
- Not within 2,500 ft of another unified development
Summary
Bensalem's zoning ordinance allows electric vehicle charging stations as a permitted accessory amenity at a convenience store with fuel dispensing facilities in the PCD-UD Planned Commerce Park Unified Development District, under Code Section 232-493(b)(7). The use itself is confined to tracts with at least 300 feet of arterial road frontage located within 500 feet of a limited-access highway exit ramp.
(7)Convenience store with fuel dispensing facilities. May include, but is not limited to, the sale of the following: coffee, dairy products, delicatessen, dry goods, ice, made to order beverages, food stuffs, grocery items, newspapers, tobacco, lottery sales, motor vehicle fuels, and minor automotive accessories and similar product lines. Food preparation for consumption shall be permitted. The use may provide for indoor automated teller machines and financial services, public restrooms, indoor vending machines, electric vehicle charging stations, and air pumps for the inflation of tires. ... 1.Location requirements.a.This use shall only be permitted on a tract which contains a minimum of 300 feet of frontage on a major arterial road.b.This use shall be permitted only on a tract located within 500 feet of an exit ramp from a limited access state highway.
Full Breakdown
Bensalem does not regulate electric vehicle charging on its own; the single reference in the zoning ordinance sits inside the use description for a convenience store with fuel dispensing facilities in the PCD-UD district. Section 232-493(b)(7) lists what such a store may sell and provide, coffee, dairy products, food stuffs, motor vehicle fuels, tobacco, and lottery sales, and then permits a set of indoor and site amenities alongside those sales: automated teller machines and financial services, public restrooms, indoor vending machines, electric vehicle charging stations, and air pumps for tire inflation.
The ordinance treats charging stations as optional, may provide language rather than a mandate, so no PCD-UD convenience store is required to install them and none is barred from doing so. The use only exists within the district-wide location requirements Section 232-493(B)(1) sets for any PCD-UD tract seeking the unified-development option: the tract needs at least 300 feet of frontage on a major arterial road, must sit within 500 feet of an exit ramp from a limited access state highway, and cannot fall within 2,500 feet of another tract already developed as a unified development under the same section.
A convenience store offering EV charging also has to meet the section's separate standards for fuel dispensing pumps, mounted on concrete islands and protected from collision, and the parking ratio of one space per 200 square feet of floor area plus one per employee and one per fueling position.
Violations & Fines
Because Section 232-493(b)(7) makes electric vehicle charging an optional accessory amenity rather than a required feature, there is no separate violation for omitting it; the enforceable conditions attach to the convenience store use itself, siting outside the 300-foot arterial frontage or 500-foot highway-ramp distance in Section 232-493(B)(1), or exceeding the eight fuel-dispensing-island cap is what triggers zoning enforcement against the underlying use.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Bensalem require convenience stores to install EV chargers?
Where in Bensalem can this kind of convenience store locate?
Are there other EV charging rules elsewhere in the Bensalem code?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Bensalem
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