Mount Pleasant, SC Parking Rules: EV Charging (2026)
Key Facts
- Governing section
- § 156.740(E)
- EV spaces
- Count toward parking minimum
- Marked exclusive EV spaces
- Do not count toward minimum
- Pervious paving
- Exempted for EV spaces, § 156.741(B)
- Enforcing agency
- Zoning Administrator
- Penalty
- Up to $500 fine / 30 days jail
Summary
In the Town of Mount Pleasant, parking spaces built for alternative fuel vehicles, including electric vehicle charging stations, count toward a development's minimum required off-street parking. Town Code § 156.740(E) counts those spaces unless a sign or marking makes them exclusive to alternative fuel vehicles, and a companion rule excuses EV spaces from the pervious-paving mandate that applies to excess parking in nine business and industrial districts.
(E) Parking spaces for alternative fuel vehicles. Parking spaces for alternative fuel vehicles, including spaces with electric vehicle charging stations, count towards the required number of parking spaces for a use, unless the space is exclusively available for alternative fuel vehicles (through the use of a sign or other marking).
Full Breakdown
This provision sits in Chapter 156 (Zoning Code), Subchapter F, Part 2 (Parking Ratios), which the Planning, Land Use and Neighborhoods Department's Zoning Administrator applies when reviewing site plans. 741-1, the Off-Street Parking Table. A restaurant, office, or retail use that installs EV charging spaces gets full credit toward its minimum parking count for those spaces, the same as an ordinary space, so long as the space is not marked exclusively for alternative fuel vehicles through signage or pavement marking. If it is marked exclusive, it drops out of the minimum-parking count and the site needs another standard space to satisfy the ratio.
741(B), requires that in the OP-1, OP-2, NC-1, NC-2, AB-1, AB-2, ED, LI, and WG-C districts, any parking spaces built above the required minimum must use pervious paving approved by the Zoning Administrator and Town Engineer, but it expressly excuses spaces for alternative fuel vehicles from that pervious-material requirement, giving developers room to add EV infrastructure without extra paving cost. Both sections were adopted in the town's 1-14-2025 zoning rewrite.
Violations & Fines
Parking that fails to conform to the off-street parking table, including miscounted or mismarked EV spaces, is enforced as a Chapter 156 zoning violation under §§ 156.1576-156.1577: a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not more than $500 and/or imprisonment for not more than 30 days, with each day of continuing violation a separate offense. The Zoning Administrator must send written notice describing the violation and give a minimum 15-business-day cure period before pursuing further enforcement.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Mount Pleasant require businesses to install EV charging stations?
Do EV charging spaces need pervious pavement in Mount Pleasant?
What happens if I mark an EV space "EV only"?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Mount Pleasant
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