Solar panels raise questions

Dec 4 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Jennifer Hall St. Joseph News-Press, Mo.

Solar panels have sparked a debate between homeowners and a city code that may not be ready for them.

In September, Milton and Mary Stans Boyles contracted US Solar to install solar panels at their St. Joseph home. A portion of the couple's yard was transformed into an alternative energy source that measured approximately 60 feet long and afforded them an electric bill of about $9 a month. But after a neighbor complained, the city is now asking the Boyles to relocate the panels on their property.

"It was not an absolute prohibition," said Dustin Smith, city planner. "They would just have to move (the solar panels)."

Mr. Smith said there is no specific reference within the zoning code that covers solar panels. But the city has classified the alternative energy source as an accessory structure and therefore has to meet those requirements.

Accessory structures cannot be located in the front yard of a residential property. The required setback for an accessory structure from the front property line is 50 feet, or behind the front building line of the main structure, whichever is greater, so that the location is only 5 feet from the front property line.

The Boyles spent $1,500 to remove a tree and paid US Solar $14,500 on the panels themselves. There is currently a cease and desist order and the couple's solar panels have been red tagged.

"The city wants us to move our solar panels from direct sun to shade," Mr. Boyles said. "(The panels) also would lose out on the direct current because the distance would be greater."

Mr. Smith said the entire situation could have been avoided. The installation project at the Boyles' home required an electrical permit. US Solar did not apply for that permit. Mr. Boyles said his contractor didn't believe one was needed.

Up until the current case, only an electrical permit was asked of those installing solar panels. Now, a building permit also must be applied for.

The Boyles are just one of two citizens battling city codes.

In one recent case, the city denied Stephen and Annette Balogh's proposal to install their own solar panels on Blackwell Road.

In both cases, the residents submitted requests for a variance from the Zoning Board of Adjustment, which cost $250 a piece. All parties met at a meeting on Nov. 27 where the Boyles' and Baloghs' requests were denied. The couples have five days to appeal the decision. It will cost them $650 a piece to refile.

"They are really discouraging people from arguing the committee's decision," Mr. Balogh said of the cost and time frame.

For obvious reasons, Mr. Balogh has become an advocate for the Boyles' property, too. He was asked to relocate his proposed solar panels to another location on his property.

"I just don't think (Mr. Smith) can dictate where the city wants to hide them and where they should be placed for optimal use," he said. "Essentially, should the city be able to dictate where they are placed?"

Mr. Balogh feels the aesthetics of the solar panels are a matter of opinion.

"It seems to be something they arbitrarily came up with," he said.

Mr. Smith argues that the basic premise of the city's accessory structure code is probably to some extent about aesthetics.

"Some of it is interpretation," he said.

Since taking over the city planner position last year, Mr. Smith has been drafting new codes to relate to solar panels. The panels will always qualify as an accessory structure, however.

Two decades ago, satellite dish owners were in the same predicament. The giant structures were being installed in yards everywhere. The city considered those accessory structures, too.

Since that time, dishes have shrunk in size and are easily mounted to the home. Mr. Smith said, for the most part, if a homeowner installed the solar panels to their roof it would eliminate the accessory structure problem. But even then, not every home in St. Joseph could do this.

Homes located within historic districts would have to seek approval from the Landmark Commission. In July, the Francis Street First United Methodist Church requested approval to install solar panels to its building located in the Museum Hill Local Historic District. The group granted approval as long as the church met certain design guidelines. The church will have to erect a parapet wall to screen the view of the solar panels.

Mr. Balogh, who has been involved in solar energy since the 1970s, feels the Zoning Board is stonewalling the process. The board ruled that the solar panels are not only violating code by their location in the Boyles' front yard, but suggest that the visual impact would be detrimental to the neighborhood. That was the same explanation given to Mr. Balogh.

"Visually intrusive," Mr. Balogh said. "I wish they would have taken into consideration my due diligence to make this aesthetically pleasing. Which is a value judgment anyways."

Mr. Boyles said his neighbor is worried about lowering her property value if she were to sell her home. Mrs. Boyles said having solar panels produces a 20 percent rise in property values.

"I have not personally had anyone object to a home because the neighbor had solar panels," said Bobbi Jo Howe with Re Max Professionals of St. Joseph. "There's no noise and they're not that ugly. They're solar panels. They aren't cars up on blocks."

But like the city, local real-estate officials have only begun to deal with solar panels.

"They're just too new so we really don't know how they will affect property values," said Scot Van Meter, Buchanan County Assessor. "We are not touching those things right now for valuing."

Given the current ordinances, Mr. Smith said there might be some properties in St. Joseph where solar panels just won't work.

Jennifer Hall can be reached

at jennhall@newspressnow.com.

Follow her on Twitter: @SJNPHall.