Bill would expand solar panel rights in North Carolina
By Lynn Bonner, Staff Writer / May 02, 2007
Source: NewObserver.com
http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/569918.html
Neighbors quizzed Gwendolyn Anderson about the solar panels she wanted to install on the roof of her Garner home. Would the panels hurt property values? Would the panels spew toxins if they caught fire? Would birds fly into them and die?
It took more than a year of calming fears and collecting signatures before Anderson got approval to use the sun to heat her water. “They put me through paces they didn’t require for other types of changes to people’s homes,” she said. Into this age of conformity, where homeowners associations tell people where they can park and what style of mailbox they can have, comes a state proposal to loosen appearance rules for the sake of energy savings.
Under a legislative proposal, state residents would have the right to install panels on their property to harness the sun’s energy, regardless of what new association covenants or local ordinances say. Some builders and environmentalists are pushing for the law, which would allow for what’s called “solar access.” They say neighborhood appearance committees that can give or withhold permission for home alterations hinder conservation efforts.
Homeowners associations are willing to go to the wall to uphold their appearance standards. In the summer of 2000, a Cary resident made national news when he was told to remove an American flag from his front porch. The neighborhood association allowed flag flying from the back or sides of homes only.
A Clayton couple are installing a fence in their yard to protect their autistic son, but their homeowners association is objecting. John Stone, president of the state chapter of the Community Associations Institute — the association of homeowners associations — sees no need for the law.
It’s hard to argue against energy conservation, he said, but “what you do in a community, particularly in a community where the lots are close together, it does affect your neighbors’ property values.” People move into neighborhoods because they look good, Stone said, and committees upholding architectural standards help keep them looking good. The state has about 15,000 homeowner associations, and about 1,000 community associations form every year.
Making it work
Julia Barnes-Weise and Reinhard Weise didn’t need to go through a neighborhood committee to have a solar water-heating system installed in their Durham home. Barnes-Weise joked about the fuss energy-saving devices cause in some subdivisions and doubted the new rooftop equipment on her house would attract much attention from neighbors.
Equipment has changed over the years, and homeowners concerned about appearance have more options. “It’s not nearly as ugly as it used to be,” Barnes-Weise said. Homeowners can choose panels that are tinted blue and sit flush with the roof. The Weise home doesn’t have panels at all, but tubes attached to the roof.
Bob Kingery, co-owner of Southern Energy Management, a business that installs solar energy equipment, wishes all jobs were as straightforward as the Weise contract, which he worked on Tuesday. State and federal tax credits and an interest in conservation are speeding homeowner interest in solar devices, he said, but neighborhood architectural review committees can sideline conservation plans. “It’s a hurdle people are putting up, and we want to remove that hurdle,” Kingery said.
Often, if an association architectural review committee is approached nicely, it will eventually approve solar equipment, he said. Neighbors don’t always come around to the idea of having solar thermal panels visible from the street or the golf course.
Bob Spencer of Spencer Construction said he is building a 4,000-square-foot home in Southport where an architectural review committee rejected panels that would allow the owner to use sun-heated water. The committee rejected the plans because the two 4-foot by 6-foot panels, which would be slightly raised off the roof, could be seen from the street, he said. “They’re strict even on skylights,” Spencer said.
Fight was worth it Anderson said her fight was worth it, because she was able to teach her neighbors and potential buyers who came to look at the house when she put it on the market about solar energy.
When she put the Garner house on the market, she turned down an offer from a couple who wanted to tear out the panels and sold the house to a couple who wanted them. “They were interested in learning about solar,” Anderson said. “They wanted the free hot water because they have other expenses.”
(READ THE BILL: www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2007/Bills/Senate/HTML/S670v1.html)