HOAs Can Still Delay Solar Installations

These days when we speak about neighborhoods and solar power it usually entails neighbors banding together to buy bulk and save money. Groups like 1BOG and Solarize Portland illustrate the success of group buying. But among homeowners who live in communities regulated by homeowners associations (HOAs), obstacles may still exist even in the face of state laws prohibiting anti-solar bylaws.

A recent example comes out of Salem, Oregon. Larry Lohrman was all set to install a 3-kilowatt solar power system on his rooftop and take advantage of federal, state and utility incentives available to him. But there was one major snag. Lohrman lives in Creekside Estates, a 500-home community regulated by an HOA and its many rules and regulations, one of which strictly defines what residents can or can’t do to their rooftops.

So when Lohrman was ready to go (he’d researched solar and even lined up a contractor), he was shocked to receive a letter from the HOA board telling him to halt plans because his solar power system would violate the Creekside Estates’ conditions, covenants and restrictions (CC&Rs).

Since 1979, Oregon law has stipulated that no property owner can ban the use of solar panels. It’s a law now on the books in many states, largely in response to situations much like Larry Lohrman’s. Yet Oregon’s 31-year-old law was not enough to prevent a delay in Lohrman’s plans. That is, until this spring when the Creekside HOA approved guidelines, developed by Lohrman and fellow Creekside resident Burt Bogart, for any solar panels going up in the community.

Because of that long delay, Lohrman eventually postponed his solar plans for financial reasons, although neighbor Bogart picked up where he left off.

The point to all of this is that often obscure HOA bylaws can have a major and sometimes detrimental effect on home solar power, even with state law on the solar homeowner’s side. It is important when researching solar power that homeowners include their HOA when digging up rules and regulations. Lohrman and Bogart told the Statesman-Journal that their board moved fairly quickly to change the rules, but it still took nine months and Lohrman’s home still sits without solar power.

The silver lining here is the resulting community group, Sustainable Creekside. Formed by Lohrman in the wake of his troubles, the group aims to educate and inform community members about sustainable options, from using nematodes instead of pesticides on lawns to hanging clotheslines instead of dryers to mounting solar panels on rooftops.

Source: The Statesman-Journal

Photo Credit: PVdatabase

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