Portsmouth eases solar panel rules for historic district, despite opposition

PORTSMOUTH — The City Council narrowly passed the third and final reading of an ordinance amendment aimed at making it easier for homeowners to install solar arrays in the city’s historic district .

Mayor Deaglan McEachern, Assistant Mayor Joanna Kelley, and City Councilors John Tabor, Josh Denton and Rich Blalock voted Monday night to pass the amended ordinance.

City Councilors Kate Cook, Beth Moreau, Vince Lombardi and Andrew Bagley voted against it.

The vote to pass the third reading and adopt the ordinance amendment came after the council passed second reading by the same margin Monday night, and then voted to suspend the rules and vote on third reading immediately rather than wait for their Aug. 5 meeting for the final vote, Denton said.

Denton and Blalock first raised the idea in December to change the existing ordinance so homeowners in the historic district could install solar panels without having to receive approval from the Historic District Commission.

But the HDC and Planning Board brought back what Denton called “an amendment to the amendment,” which the council voted to adopt.Denton acknowledged the existing proposed amendment is more complicated than what he and Blalock first proposed. But he stated previously if homeowners meet the six requirements for solar arrays, they could receive administrative approval for the array from city staff without having to go through a vote of the HDC.

Reached Wednesday, Denton said despite the changes to what was initially proposed, he considers the passage of the ordinance amendment a victory.

“I definitely think it will be easier for owners to get solar arrays on houses in the Historic District now,” Denton said.

He noted that before the ordinance amendment was passed, “it was almost a roll of the dice in terms of what the HDC would do.”

“Now by following the guidelines drafted by the HDC and the Planning Board, I’m hoping people that meet those requirements will be able to sail through,” Denton said, and receive approval from city staff rather than having to appear before the HDC.

He acknowledged that “from the start I’ve been wanting to remove solar arrays from the HDC’s purview, but the votes weren’t there for that.”

“They were for this which is a compromise,” he said.

'Not perfect' but a big improvement, Denton says

Denton reminded his fellow councilors during Monday's meeting that he first appeared before the HDC in January 2016 advocating for guidelines for solar arrays in the historic district.

“They are not perfect,” Denton said about the proposed guidelines in the amended ordinance. “What they are is a compromise, and they are far better than the status quo.”

The amended ordinance, Denton said, will give homeowners in the historic district the power “to do what they can to mitigate against climate change.”

McEachern worried before Monday's vote on second reading that councilors were letting “perfect be the enemy of the good."

“I hope that we can come to an agreement that this isn’t perfect,” McEachern said during Monday night’s City Council meeting. “We’re making some small improvements so homeowners can act in their best interests if they so choose, and by doing so we’re going to help the environment, we’re also going to continue to preserve historic structures.”

Blalock, who voted for the ordinance amendment, serves on the HDC.

He pointed to the commission’s decision in June to allow St. John’s Church to put 54 black solar panels on its church parish house while rejecting 48 more solar panels .

The church made the proposal to save money and try to address climate change, church officials said.

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“To have a policy that prevents members of our community from saving money and being environmentally responsible is wrong,” Blalock said.

What opponents of solar arrays policy change are saying

Some councilors, including Lombardi, felt the proposed ordinance change went too far by giving city staff the power to decide on solar arrays.

“There’s actually no one in the Planning Department that has a background in historic structures,” Lombardi said during Monday’s meeting.

“To assign a task that concerns historic structures … to someone who has no background in that, is very disturbing to me when you have an HDC, which has a lot of experience, knowledge (and) training in historic structures,” he said.

Moreau stated she has concerns “about the amount of pressure we put on staff to make administrative approvals.”

She acknowledged the proposed guidelines in part are “very subjective.”

“I think that might cause a lot of issues and a lot of pushback,” Moreau said during Monday’s meeting.

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Bagley voted against the ordinance amendment, he said, because it created additional hurdles for homeowners trying to get solar arrays approved in the historic district.

He pointed to a proposed guideline that says, “a letter of certification from a licensed architect or engineer may be required for any application proposing elements that will create a new structural load by the addition to or removal of elements from a structure.”

“This throws up a lot of new hurdles, brings a lot of new bureaucracy, and it’s going to discourage the adoption of solar panels,” Bagley said.

Allowing solar panels in the historic district, Bagley said, creates “the ability for people who live in their homes, not tourists, not people who come to visit our city to take a picture, people living in their homes to make an appreciable improvement to their life” by reducing their electric bills.

Installing solar panels also gives residents a way “to do something good for the environment,” Bagley said.

“I think that’s worth something,” he added.

Cook, for her part, reminded her fellow councilors the HDC has approved most solar array requests.

She encouraged councilors to push for solar arrays outside the historic district, while working to address reoccurring flooding in the city’s South End from rain events.

Middle Street resident Sue Polidura objected to the idea of turning administrative approvals over to city staff.

“It will leave the HDC completely out of many decisions that they should be involved in,” she said during a public hearing portion of Monday’s meeting.

She added only about 2% of “the total area of Portsmouth is in the historic district.”

“Portsmouth was always known for its history before anything else, long before the restaurants come and go,” Polidura said. “We used to be the capital of the state of New Hampshire, there’s a lot of history here, it needs to be protected.”

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Portsmouth eases solar panel rules for historic district, despite opposition