Solar PV in Conservation or Historic Districts

[Danny S]

Hi,

I'm new to the forum but I am hoping that someone following will have some advice. My wife and I live in Portland, OR where we purchased our first home about 2 years ago. We bought the house with the intention to install solar technologies on our well exposed south-facing roof. Yet a couple months ago our 3 kW PV array was denied a building permit by the city. Since we live in a Conservation District the local zoning code doesn't permit street facing solar, and other facing solar installations require a $1300 design review process. Apparently this is to preserve the historic nature of the community yet our home is not considered historic so no one, including our solar installer, knew about these zoning codes. We are pretty disappointed and have been contacting anyone we can think of to gain support and change the zoning code but it appears we have some resistance from those in the community who do own historic homes. At this point the city council oppose any zoning code change and haven't been particularly forthcoming in letting the community, homeowners, or solar installers know about these enforcements. Anybody out there have any advice or suggestions on how to address this? Perhaps similar situations has come about in other cities that we could learn from?

Thanks,

Danny S

[russ]

Hi Danny - Welcome to Solar Panel Talk!

I used to live in Portland - in the 60's & 70's. Not a good location for solar PV to begin with due to the long cloudy winter and spring.

Maybe you would be better off investing in a solar utility east of the Cascades?

Portland is 'green' as Oregon is a green state - always has been. I remember the KOG (Keep Oregon Green) campaigns from back in the 50's though at that time it centered more about keeping trash picked up.

I doubt you are going to get anywhere with the historic society and zoning commission.

Russ

[Sunking]

I agree with Russ, you are pretty much done and a minority voice.

[russ]

The district had these zoning laws before you moved there?