Another lawsuit shines light on solar panel issue in West County

Last June, when a Cole County Circuit Judge ruled in a favor of a couple that had sued the city of Clarkson Valley for refusing to allow them to install solar panels on their home, it seemed as if a new precedent had been set: State standards regulating residential solar systems had trumped a city's right to restrict their installation.As it turns out, that lawsuit settled nothing.In January, a Wildwood couple, Brian Hauge and Susan Hanley, filed suit against the trustees of the homeowners association of their subdivision, the Highlands of Chesterfield, for denying their request to install solar panels on their home.Steve Jeffery, the couple's attorney, acknowledged that neighborhood associations have the right to include in their indentures provisions that impose specific design and construction standards on exterior improvements to a home. At issue, Jeffery said, is that the couple's subdivision indentures did not address solar panels at all.
"In this particular subdivision, there was no specific provision, or even a general provision, dealing with solar panels," said Jeffery.Instead, Jeffery said the trustees rejected the couple's application based on a "very loose, vague standard" of aesthetic considerations. Conversely, state laws that regulate the installation of solar panels do not impose any aesthetic requirements on residential solar panels. According to Jeffery, this puts the trustees' actions in direct conflict with public policy and makes that provision in the indentures unenforceable.State regulations do establish design, safety and operating standards for residential solar systems that have a solar rebate contract with an electric utility."We have a solar rebate contract with Ameren," Hauge said in a press release. "Our system is designed to totally comply with all applicable design, safety and operating requirements."
Jeffery said when you pit those very specific state regulations against the trustees' power to deny or approve a solar installation based on a "vague, arbitrary" provision in the subdivision indentures, the question becomes, "Which one takes precedent?"Notably, this suit was filed against the couple's homeowners association, not the city of Wildwood. Asked whether he thought future issues with residential solar panels would wind up on the desks of city attorneys or neighborhood trustees, Jeffery said, "Probably both. This is a very new and evolving area of the law."