Victory for solar in North Richland Hills

Last night, the city council of North Richland Hills (a suburb of Fort Worth) voted 6-1 to largely overturn an anti-solar ordinance they adopted in December. The move came after residents of North Richland Hills delivered over 800 petition signatures to the City Council demanding the ordinance’s repeal.  

Last night, the city council of North Richland Hills (a suburb of Fort Worth) voted 6-1 to largely overturn an anti-solar ordinance they adopted in December. The move came after residents of North Richland Hills delivered over 800 petition signatures to the City Council demanding the ordinance’s repeal.  

On December 8, 2014, the NRH city council approved Ordinance 3343, one of the most anti-solar laws in the Dallas Fort Worth region. The new ordinance prohibited installation of solar panels on street-facing rooftops without approval of neighbors and a fee of $582. This meant that roughly half of the homes in North Richland Hills could be prevented from installing solar panels for maximum production.

Most Dallas Fort Worth area cities are working cooperatively to streamline the permitting process to make it easier for more of us to install solar on our homes and businesses. Unfortunately, the North Richland Hills city council had moved in the opposite direction, creating more red tape and burdensome and unnecessary limitations that will discourage many from installing solar on their property.

NRH residents Dan Lepinski, Lori De la Cruz, and many others weren’t going to take this. Citing a never-used provision in the City Charter, they launched a petition drive to force the City Council to either repeal the ordinance or put it on the ballot for voters to decide. The NRH volunteers were under a tight timeline – they had to collect 733 valid signatures in less than three weeks in order to meet the legal requirements – and this amid bad winter weather and people away on Christmas vacation. They persevered, collecting signatures outside the community center, at a town hall meeting, and going door to door. Along the way, they helped drum up attention in the media, including a front page story in the Dallas Morning News and regular coverage in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and local TV.

On January 14, they presented 874 signatures to city council. The city told the volunteers a state law preempted the petition effort, but that the city took the petitions seriously and would conduct a review. The city then developed its own survey to ask residents – including those who had signed the petition and those who had not – their feelings on solar. The survey questions, which the solar advocates felt were biased, still showed broad support among residents. 61 percent of respondents said they should not be notified if a neighbor wanted to install solar on their own roof.

Finally, on May 18, the NRH Council voted to remove the notification, hearing and $582 fee requirement for street-facing solar. The new ordinance isn’t perfect – it still raises the installation cost of solar for ground-mounted solar (only a small percentage of solar is ground-mounted) by requiring special screening to block the view of adjacent properties – but it’s a huge improvement over the December ordinance and testament to the power of citizens coming together to fight for change.

Congratulations Dan, Lori and the whole Support Solar NRH team!

Authors

Luke Metzger

Executive Director, Environment Texas

As the executive director of Environment Texas, Luke is a leading voice in the state for clean air and water, parks and wildlife, and a livable climate. Luke recently led the successful campaign to get the Texas Legislature and voters to invest $1 billion to buy land for new state parks. He also helped win permanent protection for the Christmas Mountains of Big Bend; helped compel Exxon, Shell and Chevron Phillips to cut air pollution at four Texas refineries and chemical plants; and got the Austin and Houston school districts to install filters on water fountains to protect children from lead in drinking water. The San Antonio Current has called Luke "long one of the most energetic and dedicated defenders of environmental issues in the state." He has been named one of the "Top Lobbyists for Causes" by Capitol Inside, received the President's Award from the Texas Recreation and Parks Society for his work to protect Texas parks. He is a board member of the Clean Air Force of Central Texas and an advisory board member of the Texas Tech University Masters of Public Administration program. Luke, his wife, son and daughters are working to visit every state park in Texas.