In Some Places, Laws Protect Ability to Install a Solar Hearing System

We applied to our condominium homeowners association to put a solar water heater on our roof, and they just notified me that they have turned down our request. I thought there were laws that said associations couldn’t do this. What’s the story?

Depending on where you live, there may be laws that would support your request, but there are a number of factors that need to be taken into account. Even in the states that require homeowner associations to allow the use of solar systems, there are clear guidelines (such as whether the system can be visible from the street) that must be followed.

Quite a few states have solar access laws that give homeowners and businesses the right to use sunlight to produce hot water or electricity and to help heat and light their homes. Just one state, though – California – gives statutory-based right to access solar energy, but a number of other states do have legislation that helps protect the rights of the homeowner.

As you’ve found with your condominium, there are codes, covenants and restrictions (CCRs) that govern everything from the color paint on your exterior walls to the use of screen doors to basketball hoops in the driveway, and these rules often include additions such as solar energy systems. Because it is essential that a solar system (or many passive solar building features) have access to the sun for optimum performance, restrictions on the allowable locations of systems if they are allowed at all can have a huge impact on how well they work. In addition, a lack of rules on the natural growth of trees as well as new buildings and other construction projects can affect the use of solar collectors.

California is the only state that gives it citizens the statutory right to sunlight in terms of both solar access (including the prohibition of CCRs that prohibit or restrict the use of solar energy), and shade control with an act that prevents the blockage of the sun by a neighbor’s trees or shrubs, within certain requirements.

However, there are laws on the books in many other states that protect homeowners and that can affect homeowner association efforts to prohibit solar energy systems. Florida law, for example, forbids CCRs and other deed restrictions from prohibiting the use of solar energy systems (and any restrictions that are put into place must be reasonable and cannot be imposed with the intent of prohibiting a solar system). A law in Hawaii requires associations to allow the use of solar energy systems and to keep associations from banning the use of the systems.

Many states have more general laws affecting the way cities and counties can regulate the use of solar systems. Cities in North Carolina, for example, cannot pass ordinances that prohibit solar collectors, while municipalities and local authorities in Oregon can pass their own solar access laws regulating such things as the orientation of new streets, height of new buildings, and location of trees on public property. Boulder, Colo., has sections of the city called solar access areas that guarantee a certain amount of open space around homes so that the sun will not be blocked.

About 20 states have laws that create solar easements that assure access to sunlight without having trees or buildings on a neighbor’s property blocking the sun.

The bottom line is that you need to check with local building authorities about rules and regulations in your community. You might be surprised to find that there are existing laws and regulations that support your request for a solar system, as long as you follow the stated requirements. So even though your condominium association has rules that they say prohibit solar systems, they may not realize that there are conditions under which the systems would be allowed.

One final note is to check on whether local laws cover all kinds of renewable energy and energy-efficiency devices, not just rooftop solar collectors. You might have a single-family house with a sunroom and a room that uses thermal mass for heating, so you don’t want your neighbor to plant big trees and bushes outside those rooms that block the sun. There have even been cases where a homeowner was prohibited from putting a clothesline in their backyard to dry their clothes since this was deemed "unsightly" by their local association. In some states, these prohibitions are not allowed.

Ken Sheinkopf is a communications specialist with the American Solar Energy Society. Send questions to askken@ases.org.

(c) 2008 Virginian – Pilot. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.