Town Council gets it: Climate change is real.
At our April 17 meeting, we reviewed a draft action plan for reducing our carbon footprint. The plan called for requiring solar panels on 80% of the rooftop area on all development proposals that needed a rezoning to proceed. State law prohibits municipalities from requiring new construction to be solar or electric vehicle ready, just as it prohibits any sort of cap on rents, thus knee-capping our authority to require affordable housing. However, a developer can voluntarily provide such community benefits when requesting a rezoning.
More than a decade ago, in 2007, council adopted a requirement that all developers of new construction must submit a plan that endeavors to make their project 20% more energy efficient than standards set by the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration & Air Conditioning Engineers. Presumably, that is being done, implemented and enforced.
The idea for adding rooftop solar panels came from a petition by the town’s Environmental Stewardship Advisory Board. Solar panels are relatively more affordable than those installed in the early 1990s, when the technology began appearing in regular homes. When we bought a house in Chapel Hill 23 years ago, we had a very difficult time finding anyone to repair the solar panels on our house, and when we did locate someone to do the work, it was prohibitively expensive.
A developer recently cited the $250,000 cost as the reason he balked at installing solar panels on a proposed apartment complex at 2217 Homestead Road. He offered some affordable housing units instead (providing that the town waive $83,000 in permit fees). A majority of council approved his offer.
This underscores my concern that in our enthusiasm to embrace greater energy efficiency, we pit affordable housing against reducing our carbon footprint. Developers might agree to one or the other, but not both.
In 2017, council adopted a resolution delineating 10 ways the town could reduce greenhouse gas emissions, conserve energy and boost transit ridership. But we haven’t made any noticeable progress since.
If we want developers to contribute to both affordable housing and energy efficiency, we must take a leadership role by coming up with a plan for installing solar panels on every town building that has sufficient sunshine to make solar panels worth the investment. We need to figure out how to pay for it, include that amount in the town budget and draw up a time frame for when each installation will be completed.
Climate change is real. We must get equally real in our efforts to combat it.
— Nancy Oates
