Hey, your shade trees are blocking my solar array
Going green is creating a new kind of tension between neighbors, as a Culver City dispute shows.
One neighbor loves his solar panels, which have cut his energy bill and are helping to combat global warming. The other neighbor adores his trees, which boost his property value and capture greenhouse gases.
So what happens when one guy's greenery casts a shadow on the other fellow's solar array?
It's an environmental battle that's heating up. And not just on Helms Avenue in Culver City, where the two neighbors -- furniture maker Gary Schultz and architect Michael Rachlin -- have begun using some decidedly un-sunny language to describe each other.
"He's arrogant," said Schultz, who installed the solar panels.
"He has been a chronic sort of complainer," said Rachlin, who planted the stately date palms.
Testy letters and e-mails have been flying between the two. There is talk of litigation.
California has embarked on an ambitious program to install photovoltaic panels on 1 million roofs in California by the end of 2017. So it was perhaps inevitable that property owners, who already fuss with one another about everything under the sun, would end up feuding about that as well.
Complaints are arising from an obscure state law known as the Solar Shade Control Act. It protects homeowners' investments in solar panels, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars. Property owners whose trees block the sun from more than 10% of their neighbors' panels can be fined as much as $1,000 a day if they refuse to trim them.
Signed in 1978 by Gov. Jerry Brown, the law was little noticed until this year, when a solar spat ended up in Santa Clara County criminal court.
A judge convicted a Sunnyvale couple of violating the shade law -- an infraction on par with a parking ticket -- for refusing to trim a stand of redwoods that were causing power losses on their neighbor's solar array. The couple eventually pruned some branches to avoid the fine, but only after spending $37,000 defending themselves in court.
The criminal prosecution attracted international attention and some "only-in-California" snickers. But with more installed megawatts of solar photovoltaic panels than in any other state in the nation, Californians have good reason to take their solar seriously.
Just ask Schultz.
A furniture and cabinet maker who uses lots of heavy equipment at his Culver City shop, Schultz was fed up with Southern California Edison bills that averaged around $5,000 a month -- more than the mortgage on his building
- Countywide - Energy Panel Head Wins Group's Prize Nov 10, 1992
- Reinstate Solar Energy Tax Credit Sep 22, 1989
- Valley Residents Warming Up to Local Solar Power Options Mar 06, 2001
