Solar Ordinance to Regulate Panel Installations

Although the township currently has no pending applications, the Bedminster Township Land Use Board held an initial discussion Thursday about a possible new ordinance on solar energy, the apparent wave of the future.

Frank Banisch, township planner, presented the first draft of the ordinance at the Land Use Board meeting, although action is not expected on it until January at the earliest.

“This is the first time that we’re talking about a proposal to amend Bedminster’s code that deals with solar installations and equipment,” he said. “Essentially, the landscape in New Jersey has increasingly been the subject of applications for large solar arrays to be installed on site or off for large energy productions.”

“There have been a variety of approaches in different municipalities,” he added.

The ordinance, Banisch said, separates the standards of solar installations into three different categories—roof-mounted panels, parking lot canopy systems and ground-mounted arrays.

Banisch said that, in terms of roof-mounted arrays, the ordinance discusses whether they are put on a flat or sloped roof, with an array of no higher than one foot for a sloped roof and 24 inches above a flat roof.

Parking lot canopy systems, Banisch said, are for systems on property that is already developed space.

“It provides shade in parking lots while collecting energy,” he said. “It is only as an accessory to permitted uses in commercial and office zones.”

“You wouldn’t have a parking lot canopy on a single family residence,” he added. “It would be permitted in places where parking lots exist or are permitted.”

As for ground-mounted arrays, Banisch said, these are for where largest arrays tend to occur, and are permitted only as accessory uses.

“It is only in commercial offices or other zones, not residential,” he said.

Banisch said ground-mounted arrays will also not be allowed in areas that are listed as farmland.

“When a lot exceeds six acres, it is eligible for a farmland assessment, shown to be a strong indicator of continued agricultural use,” he said. “On those lots that qualify, no portion of a ground-mounted system shall occupy something for that farmland.”

“You cannot put the panels on the farmland zone anyway, it would be a use variance because it’s residential property anyway,” he added.

One resident, living next to farmland at Somerset Terrace, said he would hate to see the land taken up with solar panels.

“I believe we as residents have the ability to harvest the sun, but I am not in favor of turning all of our farmland into generating stations,” Bedminster Township Mayor Robert Holtaway said.

In response to a question from the board about dealing with homeowners associations for putting solar arrays in condo complexes and other similar locations, Banisch said it would have to be arranged by the association.

“The place that presents itself with a good solar array, if the association wanted to do that, it would be permitted,” he said. “How it would be arranged and distributed would be decided by the association."

Holtaway said he is concerned about some of the restrictions listed in the current draft of the ordinance, namely that ground-mounted arrays cannot be placed in residential zones.

“It seems that the most common is ground-mounted,” he said, adding that there are areas where the architecture of the roof and tree locations might be beneficial for it. “To prohibit in residential zones and force the owner to go for a use variance is overly restrictive, and impeding the purpose of inherently beneficial use.”

“I think that is a restriction that is impeding the homeowner rather severely in many cases,” he added.

Holtaway said he believes there are other aspects of the ordinance as well that are too restrictive for residents and the township, including requiring the fire company to visit homes where solar panels are installed to get information in case of an emergency, or telling residents to report each year whether the panels are working.

Land Use Board chairman Lance Boxer asked whether there would be a circumstance where neighbors can share in the construction of a solar array, and then share the power consumption on contiguous pieces of property.

“I support this whole idea of not creating solar farms, that is not really what I see the town about,” he said. “But is there a circumstance where it is beneficial for a neighbor to share in the construction and power consumption on a contiguous piece of property?”

Board attorney Tom Collins said that is difficult to outline in an ordinance because it could get complicated from a zoning perspective.

“Solar is inherently beneficial, and so you might get a case like that,” he said. “You might get an application that proves its justification for the proposed activity.”

Boxer said the plan for the ordinance is for the professionals to take the comments heard at the meeting, and make changes to the ordinance. He said he would like to see it again in January, with the intent of having it approved in January or February.

“I think there’s some immediate reactions to the flow and process, there are some very good discussions on the oversight of the ordinance and how certain uses might be out of the ordinance,” he said. “We have certainly had some visceral reactions on making it difficult and expensive for people, along with some back issues in providing to first responders.”

“I think it needs to be looked at again, and cleaned up a little,” he added.