Granville residents hope village's new solar ordinance draft more receptive to panels
A proposal by Granville officials to regulate the placement of solar panels on houses and other buildings was headed toward a council vote in August when solar-power advocates read the ordinance and protested that it was too restrictive.
After hearing the concerns of residents Ken and Carol Apacki, as well as others who came to the Aug. 17 meeting, the council put the ordinance on hold to consider retooling it with input from residents and solar professionals. Council member Laura Mickelson said that a revised ordinance is likely to come back to the council for consideration by the end of the year.
Also commenting at the meeting was Jeremy King, a Granville resident and director of sustainability and campus improvement at Denison University, who said the draft ordinance would have a negative impact on Denison’s future use of solar power, which is an important element of the university’s effort to reduce its carbon footprint.
In recent years, solar arrays have become increasingly popular in Granville, with new technologies making it easier to install solar systems. In response to growing popularity, the council sought earlier this year to establish a formal set of regulations that would help retain the historic character of the village and meet fire and building code requirements.
The main concerns raised by residents are rooted in what they said was the ambiguity of language in two key points in the original ordinance:
Glare – The original draft of the ordinance said that solar panels could not cause glare. Solar proponents argued that glare is subjective, and for most of the year, it is non-existent because the sun reflects upward from the panels.
One-story homes and other buildings – Originally, the ordinance said that panels could not be placed on single-story buildings, which affects both Denison and Granville Exempted Village Schools, each of which have plans to install solar panels on single-story buildings. The solar advocates also asked whether panels could be placed on houses that are one-and-a-half stories, because the first draft allowed for placement only on two-story houses. Granville is home to 1,589 structures, 535 of which are single-story houses, according to research presented by King. An additional 154 are one-and-a-half stories, which would collectively rule out approximately one-third of Granville homes for the implementation of solar, King said.
The revised ordinance is in the works with the help of sustainability experts Power Clean Future Ohio, and interested residents. This new cohort has researched model solar codes from midwestern towns of similar size and character, and they have worked them into Granville’s new revised draft, Ken Apacki said.
"These model drafts are way more receptive and encouraging of solar," he said. He and his wife live in The Village Roots, a relatively new, green-themed subdivision off of West Broadway.
There has been hesitancy around how solar panels will fit with the village's historic character. Some perceive solar as unattractive, particularly on Early American and Victorian-era homes. That concern led to the village planning commission’s tendency to reject solar panels on the fronts of homes within the historic district, in the core of the village.
This becomes a challenge when the fronts of some houses might be the only location where panels could be situated to catch the sun’s rays.
"We’re all trying to balance what we love about Granville, but also taking into account certain safety codes," said Granville Council Member Mickelson, referring to the challenge of maintaining Granville’s 19th century New England aesthetic.
Apacki took it a step further.
"Aesthetics is not a criteria," he said, "Trying to decide if something looks nice is too hard, too vague. We need to look more at physical measures that regard safety."
The Apackis and fellow solar advocates hope that the new ordinance will eliminate any ambiguity when an applicant goes before the village planning commission to seek a permit to install panels.
The Apackis said they would like to see a few key points addressed in the next draft of the ordinance:
Minimal Restrictions – Unless the panels are facing the street, citizens should not have to undergo planning commission review. Instead, necessary information should be accessible within the ordinance.
Ground Mounting – Many citizens have expressed interest in installing panels in their backyard, on the ground. Ken Apacki hopes that the ordinance will make this almost automatic.
Darryll Wolnik, village planning and development director, said he is aware of these requests, and added that the revised ordinance requires commission approval only for potential arrays proposed for either a front or side yard. Otherwise, he said, the ordinance would permit the installation in other areas.
Village Manager Herb Koehler said the goal is to strike a balance between maintaining the historic feel of Granville while also working to achieve sustainability goals as a green community.
Carol Apacki agreed.
"We hope that Granville will focus on becoming a solar community," she said. "People should be encouraged to do so. We need to become a more resilient community with the looming threat of climate change."
Jack Wolf writes for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of the Denison University Journalism Program, which is supported in part by a grant from The Mellon Foundation.
This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Granville residents hope new solar draft more receptive to panels
