Mountain View, CA Parking Rules: EV Charging (2026)
Key Facts
- Review scope
- Limited to health and safety compliance
- Denial standard
- Written findings of unavoidable, specific impact
- HOA approval
- Cannot be required as a permit condition
- Inspections
- One required for an eligible station
- State authority
- Gov. Code Secs. 65850.7 and 65850.71
Summary
Mountain View must review a residential or commercial EV charging station permit under an expedited process required by Government Code Sec. 65850.7, implemented locally at City Code Sec. 8.14.05 through 8.14.20. The chief building official can only deny the permit with written findings of a specific, unavoidable health or safety impact, and only one building inspection is normally required.
b.The chief building official, or their designee, shall determine whether the application is complete. Review of the application to install an electric vehicle charging station shall be limited to the review of whether it meets all health and safety requirements of local, state, and federal law. The requirements of local law shall be limited to those standards and regulations necessary to ensure that the electric vehicle charging station will not have a specific, adverse impact upon the public health or safety.d.The chief building official, or their designee, can only deny a permit to install an electric vehicle charging station if they make written findings, based upon substantial evidence in the record, that the proposed installation would have a specific, adverse impact upon the public health or safety, and there is no feasible method to satisfactorily mitigate or avoid the specific, adverse impact. The findings shall include the basis for the rejection of potential feasible alternatives of preventing the adverse impact.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 34 Update 4).
Full Breakdown
Sec. 05 adopts an expedited permitting process for electric vehicle charging stations to comply with Government Code Secs. 71 (AB 970, 2021). Sec. 10 defines a "charging station" as electric vehicle supply equipment built to Article 625 of the California Electrical Code that delivers power from an outside source into a plug-in vehicle, and defines "specific, adverse impact" as a significant, quantifiable, direct and unavoidable impact based on written public health or safety standards that existed when the application was deemed complete. Under Sec. 15, the chief building official's review is limited to whether the installation meets local, state and federal health and safety law, and local standards can only be applied to the extent needed to prevent a specific, adverse impact; a complete, code-compliant application must be approved and all required permits issued.
The chief building official can deny the permit only by making written findings, backed by substantial evidence, that the installation would cause a specific, adverse impact with no feasible mitigation, and must explain why any feasible alternative was rejected. The city cannot condition approval of a charging station permit on approval by a homeowners association under Civil Code Sec. 4080, and if the charger and its equipment cut into required on-site parking, the chief building official is authorized to reduce the parking requirement by the amount needed to fit the charger.
Sec. 20 caps the process at one building inspection for an eligible station, done in a timely manner, with a follow-up inspection allowed only if the first one fails.
Violations & Fines
An applicant denied a permit without the written, substantial-evidence findings Sec. 8.14.15(d) requires can challenge the denial, since the ordinance gives the chief building official no discretion to reject a compliant application on subjective grounds. Conditioning a charging station permit on HOA approval, contrary to Sec. 8.14.15(e), or requiring more than the one inspection Sec. 8.14.20 allows for an eligible station, is itself outside what the ordinance authorizes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can Mountain View deny my home EV charger permit?
Does my HOA have to approve my EV charging station first?
How many inspections does an EV charger installation need?
Sources & Official References
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