Lacey, WA Parking Rules: EV Charging (2026)

LMC 16.73.032(A) requires electric vehicle charging stations, level 2 or higher, for the land uses in Table 16T-86 when one of two triggers occurs: a new building or a new off-street parking facility is developed, or the parking capacity of an existing building, site or parking facility is increased by more than fifty percent. The fifty percent threshold is cumulative over the most recent five years, including calculations of all previously exempt expansions.

Table 16T-86 sets the share of parking spaces: five percent for multifamily residential of 10 or more units, five percent for lodging, three percent for office, institutional, municipal and medical uses, and one percent each for industrial and for recreational, entertainment and cultural uses. The table's footnote rounds to the nearest whole number of spaces, and for percentages equaling one-half space or less, no spaces are required. LMC 16.73.020(D) describes level 2 charging as requiring a forty-amp to one-hundred-amp breaker on a two-hundred-forty-volt AC circuit.

LMC 16.73.030(A) treats electric vehicle charging stations as an allowed use in association with a primary permitted use in every zoning designation. Battery exchange stations are permitted in commercial, industrial or mixed use zones, are specifically prohibited in exclusively residential zones and OSI zones, and go through site plan review under Chapter 11.07 LMC (LMC 16.73.035). Under LMC 16.73.015, electric vehicle charging stations should be reserved for parking and charging electric vehicles only, and electric vehicles can park in any space designated for public parking subject to the restrictions that apply to any other vehicle. LMC 16.73.040 adds that each charging space should be posted as electric vehicle charging only, with days and hours stated if the owner enforces time limits or tow away, that the posting identify voltage and amperage levels, and that charging stations in the streetscape be approved by the public works director.