"But we've done some research and we're finding even without (a city requirement), many new developments are doing this already."

I feel compelled to ask, if this is happening by default already, why bother with the bureaucracy of making this a requirement?

Some people will drive 25 in a school zone on their own as well, but if it is something you want everyone to do, make it a law and put up a sign.
Pretty simple

We work in Mountain View in a three story commercial building. In 2011, we asked our Landlord to put in charging stations and they said they would, but they didn't. When they sold the building for a huge profit in 2013, we asked the new landlord to put in charging stations. They said they would but didn't. Now they're about to sell the building again for a huge profit. Still no charging stations.

If you want people to make a capital expenditure to install charging stations, then they need to have an economic incentive to pay for them. Why do electric car drivers feel entitled to a free charge? They should pay for the juice, just like we all pay for gasoline. And I don't mean just the kilowatt hours. The price per kWh should reflect an amortized cost of the charger and installation expense.

Why does anyone think electric car drivers feel entitled to a free charge? I'm happy to pay, but there aren't enough charging stations.

I agree with Greg David and this should not be a law but voluntary under a free market system. Using force is wrong.

Well, Greg took a bit of a side trip, projecting "entitlement" on a large group of people he has never met. Nobody said they need to be free, he jumped there, presumably, because most all the voluntarily installed ones are currently free...voluntarily. The business owner did that, not the car driver. Would you pass up free gas if Nob Hill put in a free pump? Would you feel entitled to free gas? Nah, you'd just use the free pump and think, "Hey this is pretty cool".

The financial incentive to install is the payoff of being able to develop and rake in the mega dollars they from the buildings they are developing. We mandate parking spaces too, though some would put them in voluntarily. I think that's also a good rule.

Anyway, a 2 dollar cc "unlock" charge activated by an installed cc reader would pay for wear/tear. Lets keep pace with things.