Hackensack May Restrict Solar Panels

Feb 06 - Record, The; Bergen County, N.J.

Solar panels may be environmentally friendly, but officials in some towns are worried they might offend the neighbors.

Hackensack is the latest of several New Jersey municipalities to consider regulations on private solar installations that could prohibit the reflective panels in front yards, mandate shields for those in side yards or require special approval for panels on street- facing roofs.

For now, such rules are mainly speculative: With solar technology still too expensive for most homeowners, most North Jersey installations have been limited to public and commercial buildings, said Matt Weng, the staff attorney at the League of Municipalities, a statewide organization the advises and trains local officials.

But so many officials are betting that the technology will become more commonplace as the panels become cheaper and the economy improves that model solar ordinances are among the most popular requests public officials make with his office, Weng said.

"The biggest concern they would have is solar panels impacting the quality of life of the people around them," he said. "If a house is covered with solar panels, or has solar panels all over the yard, it could affect the aesthetics of the neighborhood."

Hackensack officials are still discussing what regulations they want to enact, but an ordinance could be ready for the first of two required votes as early as Tuesday, City Manager Steve Lo Iacono said.

"There's no intent here to inhibit the growth of solar power or to make it difficult for a homeowner to install solar panels," Lo Iacono said. "More than anything, it's for safety's sake and aesthetics."

Along with regulations geared toward shielding panels from view, the city is also considering laws that would require compliance with city electrical codes and other safety standards -- including extra stability so they would not blow off during a storm, Lo Iacono said.

A League of Municipalities sample ordinance, from the township of Mantua, lists five pages of restrictions, including a requirement that rooftop installations follow the slope of the roof and are installed at the rear; a mandate that the panels are made of materials that blend into the surroundings; a restriction of ground installations to the rear of lots that are at least three acres large and a prohibition of tower- or pole-mounted panels. Installations that don't meet the requirements in the ordinance must be presented to the township zoning board for special approval.

Municipal officials are particularly sensitive to potential problems with solar installations after the public outrage in many communities over the solar panels PSE&G installed on utility poles across the state in 2011, Weng said.

Several people complained that those panels -- single rectangular shelves mounted on the top third of certain poles -- obstructed their views and looked bad along public streets.

"In neighborhoods that have already started to see the infiltration of panels, the residents have been pretty up in arms about them, because they are unsightly," said Sheldon Neal, a Realtor with Re/Max Real Estate Limited in Oradell, a community in which residents voiced particularly strong opposition to the PSE&G panels.

Neal was one of several North Jersey agents who said they would welcome local regulations to ensure that solar panels are tastefully installed -- like the one he installed to heat his swimming pool. He put it on a side of his roof that is not visible from the street.

Unfortunately, he said, some homeowners don't take such concerns into account and they end up with a front yard that looks "like a space station."

"Yes, there's going green and all that, but ultimately there still has to be pride in your neighborhood," he said.

Tom Ferraro, president of Solar & More, a Pompton Plains solar energy installation company, said responsible installers already consider aesthetic and safety concerns when they take on a project.

"People are sincerely trying to make this work and fit into the landscapes and the infrastructure of the state," he said.

He added that he would be happy to work within local restrictions as long as municipalities make reasonable requirements, and he offers free training for public officials and firefighters to help them understand the technology before they start to regulate it.

Hackensack Councilwoman Karen Sasso said the city officials had yet to encounter any of the issues that the city's new rules would address.

"Although we haven't seen anything that has been a problem yet, it doesn't mean that in the future we won't," she said. "If we have guidelines in place, hopefully there won't be."