Jul. 7--ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- A recent City Council decision is a victory for residential solar rights, according to the Albuquerque woman who fought a long battle with a developer.

Lauren Austin spent the past year trying to get the city to recognize her right to unblocked sunshine on the roof-mounted solar panels she planned to install. A 1978 state law and a 1981 city ordinance suggest that homeowners are allowed to establish such rights.

The council finally voted 8-0 in May to deny an appeal by Green Valley Land Co., an Albuquerque developer, against her claim that she had established the right to an unobstructed access to sunshine.

Green Valley has said it wants to build a three-story condominium next to Austin's one-story home. The structure would block sunlight from reaching the area where Austin planned to install the panels, she said.

Existing state and city law encourage the use of solar energy and allow for property owners who install solar devices to heat air, heat or pump water or produce electricity to establish a property right to access solar energy.

Kay Adams, president of the Huning Highland Historic District Association, where Austin lives, said the laws were passed to provide a means to settle property rights disputes between homeowners and developers.

Austin had restored a condemned century-old house on Walter, just east of downtown Albuquerque. She planned to use solar heat to keep down utility bills.

"It was a natural answer. We're facing retirement, energy prices are rising, the governor supports it (solar energy) -- it should have been a slam dunk," Austin said.

Instead, Austin spent nearly a year filing permit applications and attending hearings to fight an appeal by Green Valley.

The council decision to approve a city land-use hearing officer's recommendation to deny the appeal shows "the city followed the law and did not bend to the power of a developer," said Austin.

Adams said Austin's pioneering battle to win recognition for solar rights will help other homeowners who want to invest in solar energy.

"The reason she had so much trouble was there was no institutional knowledge at the city level of how to do this," Adams said.

Green Valley has the option to appeal the council's decision in District Court.

"We do not concur that she has completed the declaration of solar rights because her declaration has been contested," said David Campbell, the attorney representing Green Valley.

The dispute began about a year ago when Austin applied for, and received, a solar rights permit from the city's zoning hearing examiner.

Austin said she had concerns that David Blanc, who owned the vacant lot next door, might build a structure that would block her sunlight. Blanc is a principal of Green Valley Land Co.

The city's Planning Department also gave Austin permission to install the solar panels.

She then requested a permit from the Landmarks and Urban Conservation Commission. Austin needed this because her home is in the Huning Highland Overlay Zone, an area recognized by the city for its historic architecture.

The landmarks commission is a volunteer board appointed by the mayor to help maintain the character of the city's historic areas.

The commission approved Austin's permit, on condition that she mount the solar panels so they were not visible from the street.

This meant the panels atop her one-story house would face toward the vacant lot where Green Valley wanted to build a three-story condominium. Green Valley appealed Austin's permits.

The appeal said the commission had no authority to instruct Austin to place the panels where they would prevent the planned development. A city land-use hearing officer who reviewed the case in April recommended that the council deny Green Valley's appeal.

Austin had the first of two 12-foot by 4-foot solar panels installed on her roof in late May.

But Campbell said Green Valley still plans to develop the site.

"We've said the claim of solar rights has to be done reasonably. We think they are being used for ways that they were not intended to block the legal development of the adjacent property," he said.

Austin could install her solar panels elsewhere on her property, where they wouldn't be overshadowed by Green Valley's condo building. He suggested a cinderblock storage shed added onto Austin's home in the 1950s, which faces Walter Street.

Campbell also cited city efforts to encourage high-density development in the East Downtown area, or EDO.

"If someone can block a development by putting up solar panels, it will prevent the development of EDO," Campbell said.

Austin said the landmarks commission ruled against mounting solar panels on the cinderblock building because it would visibly alter the historic character of the house.

Austin emphasized that she does not want to stop development of the vacant lot. "We were trying to make the development a legal- sized building that wouldn't destroy our solar system," Austin said.

The chairman of the governor's task force on distributed solar energy, Ben Luce, who helped Austin prepare for the hearings, said solar rights are an important issue that city and state officials should keep in mind when making zoning decisions, to avoid potential conflicts.

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