After a yearlong moratorium on solar displays, Streetsboro City Council is weighing new regulations.
Council’s Service Committee discussed the matter for nearly an hour before deciding to keep the issue in committee. Council also will need to extend its moratorium, since it will expire before the new regulations are in place.
The panel also asked Patrick O’Malia, the city’s economic development director, to weigh in on whether the code would allow businesses to have solar displays.
New regulations
John Cieszkowski, the city’s planning and zoning director, said the Planning and Zoning Commission signed off on the draft regulations and recommended them to council. The commission also approved regulations on detached accessory buildings and accessory uses.
The code would allow rooftop displays to cover the whole roof. Ground-mounted displays would be subject to setback requirements, and couldn’t encompass more than 25% of “usable building area.” The code also addresses visual buffers and lighting of the arrays.
“Integrated solar displays,” which replace traditional building materials, could encompass up to 100% of roofs, skylights or awnings. But when applied to exterior materials such as windows or siding, it could only encompass up to 25% of a home, and not on the front-facing wall.
Council’s concerns
Councilwoman Lisa McDaniel said she’s concerned the regulations would make it too difficult for the average person who wants to put up solar panels. She said she disagreed with the regulations on integrated solar displays after Cieszkowski said the displays weren’t permitted on front-facing walls because of aesthetics.
“Someone could go and redecorate their home with garish decor, and that’s allowed, but they’re not allowed to put up certain solar items because at this time they’re not aesthetically pleasing,” she said.
McDaniel expressed similar concerns about visual buffers, height regulations, and who would decide if a panel is in “good working order.” She said requiring applicants to supply “any other information or materials requested by the planning & zoning director” as overly broad.
“I think all of this is a lot for the average person who wants to put up a solar panel,” she said.
Industrial displays
Other council members asked if the code would allow industrial property owners to put up a solar array if they wanted.
Mayor Glenn Broska noted that before an industrial business adds solar panels, an “extensive amount of study” would be needed to make sure the roof could handle the weight.
“You would be adding a substantial amount of weight to the roof,” he said, adding that the studies would need to show that the roof could also handle things like snow and water flow. He said he wasn’t sure how many factories have sufficient space for ground-mounted panels.
Councilman Justin Ring talked about permitting ground mounted displays “not just massive ones.” He estimated that the city is about 85% protected against things it doesn’t want, such as “10-acre solar farms.”
O’Malia said he hasn’t read the draft yet, but said one of the city’s biggest challenges in getting new businesses is the capacity of the electrical grid.
“FirstEnergy has had some well publicized problems,” he said.
Council decided to leave the matter in committee, but Ring noted that the city’s moratorium will expire in late September, before new regulations would be in place.
Cieszkowski said council has the option of extending the moratorium to permit time “to continue the conversation.”
“It shouldn’t be open ended,” Cieszkowski said. “It should be a number of months.”
Council members said they would vote to extend the moratorium by three months at its next meeting.
Reporter Diane Smith can be reached at dsmith@recordpub.com.
This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Streetsboro weighs solar regulations, moratorium
Reporting by Diane Smith, Ravenna Record-Courier / Record-Courier
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
