Homeowners Associations and Solar Panels Don't Always Mix

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/news/story?id=50627

November 20, 2007

Homeowners Associations and Solar Panels Don't Always Mix

by Chris Stimpson

Having built a swimming pool for his children in his backyard, Matt Burdick of Chandler, Arizona planned to heat it in winter with solar hot water panels. It would be an environmentally responsible and economical way to heat a non-essential part of his home, he thought. But the $5,000 panels had not been in place on his roof for long before he received an official letter ordering their removal. Not from the State of Arizona, the local police department or the Chandler Planning Department, but from the Homeowners' Association of which he was a dues-paying member.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that individual homeowners trying to 'go green' still face an uphill battle when dealing with HOA boards, but when state laws are on their side the scales usually tip in the homeowners favor.

Having built a swimming pool for his children in his backyard, Matt Burdick of Chandler, Arizona planned to heat it in winter with solar hot water panels. It would be an environmentally responsible and economical way to heat a non-essential part of his home, he thought. But the $5,000 panels had not been in place on his roof for long before he received an official letter ordering their removal. Not from the State of Arizona, the local police department or the Chandler Planning Department, but from the Homeowners' Association of which he was a dues-paying member.

If you're one of the approximately 57 million Americans whose living arrangements are governed to some degree by a Condo, Co-op or Homeowners' Association (HOA), you're probably aware of the set of rules that are in place as a means to maintaining the community's integrity.

...

In Matt Burdick's case, his HOA took advantage of a loophole in state law to force compliance. Although the State of Arizona prohibits HOAs from banning solar installations outright, it does allow them to rule on the siting and color of panels. This sort of concession allows HOA boards to require, for example, that panels be painted white, hidden behind trees and pointed north. In the case of Burdick's HOA, they called for the panels to be colored light brown to match his roof, which would have rendered them useless. Rather than pay a daily fine, he took down the panels while a new law that closes the loophole worked its way through the state legislature.

Arizona represents a small but growing trend in which state governments appear to be more forward-looking in accommodating clean energy projects than HOA boards. At least twelve states, including California, Florida and Hawaii as well as Arizona, have laws on their books restricting HOAs' ability to ban solar installations. Some also address that other plank of most HOA restrictive covenants, the outdoor clothes line. Anecdotal evidence suggests that individual homeowners trying to ‘go green' still face an uphill battle when dealing with HOA boards, but when state laws are on their side the scales usually tip in the homeowners favor.

...

As for Matt Burdick, in the end his tenacity paid off. The very day that the new Arizona law limiting HOA powers went into effect this September he reapplied to install his solar hot water panels. The HOA approved the application the same day, and now the panels again grace his roof and provide solar-heated water for his children's pool.

[hobbit709]

1. All the more reason to never live where there is a H A

[Javaman]

2. Those little nazi fiefdoms have got to go...

I moved away from those "good areas" to get away from their control freak like ways.

as energy usage becomes more and more expensive, these little enclaves of stalinism will fall by the way side as the neighborhoods wake up.

They are an evil blight upon home ownership.

Were I live now, there is a pishky little HOA, it costs 15 bucks a year. They have no power. I mildly considered it for all of 1 1/2 seconds. Then I got our neighborhood news letter. (First let me point out the fact that my wife and I have painted our house a baby blue.) About two month later we get the news letter, in it it says, "try to paint your house in the respective colors of the neighborhood. if the majority of the house are "earth tones" try to keep that theme, do refrain from painting your house bright colors like BLUE".

SCREW THEM! I now have bring the troops home signs on my front lawn. I got several comments from some of my neighbors and when I stood my ground they shut up.

If we are to maintain our freedoms of any measure we must stand up even to the teapot dictators of our neighborhoods.

Down with HOA! Now!

[hobbit709]

3. There was a guy here in Austin about 20 years ago

When his H A told him he couldn't leave his garage door open and let everyone see his "unsightly " clutter, he had an artist paint a scene of an interior view of a cluttered garage on the garage door. they tried to complain and he told them it was "art'