Zoning laws clash with alternative options

AMHERST - In March, 1,444 voters agreed with people in more than 160 other New Hampshire towns that reducing greenhouse gases is a good thing.

That was the theory. On Tuesday, the town's zoning board will face the reality in the form of solar panels and wind turbines, both of which face big legal obstacles.

"The fact that it's alternative energy doesn't make any difference," said town planner Charlie Tiedemann. "The zoning (laws) are still in effect."

Those laws may require the end of perhaps the most visible solar panels in town - built by Eric and Johanna Landis beside their home alongside Mont Vernon Road, near the town line. They are also likely to force Norm Hebert to undergo the long process of getting a variance if he wants to put wind turbines on his Hickory Drive property.

Most of all, though, they show how habits and laws built up over decades can be a rough fit with new technologies.

"I expect it to become more of an issue. . . . I think people are going to be asking for a lot more of this, and towns need to be aware they're going to be getting more of these questions - some of which are quite complicated," said Laura Richardson, a former Nashua resident who co-founded the New Hampshire Sustainable Energy Association.

This complexity is one of many reasons that only about 100 homes in New Hampshire are generating part or all of their own electricity with residential solar, wind or hydro plants, according to Statehouse testimony. (To help increase that number, the Legislature expanded the so-called "net-metering" law to allow people to generate more power.)

The complexity is also why the Legislature attempted to pass new laws saying zoning laws shall not "unreasonably" limit "the installation of solar, wind, or other renewable energy systems." The bill floundered on local-control and other issues and never made it out of committee, however.

In Amherst, the Landises agree things need to change.

"At our last hearing, (someone) said it seems like our rules and regulations haven't caught up with need energy needs," said Eric Landis.

The family - he's a radiologist in Manchester, she's a musician and artist, and they have two teenagers - bought their home in March 2006 after moving from Wilton. They had long been interested in alternative energy, so they contracted with Global Resource Options in Vermont to build enough solar panels to supply 425 kilowatt-hours a month, or about two-thirds of their electricity needs.

Because their 2-acre property slopes sharply behind the house, leading to a creek, and their house isn't properly oriented for roof panels, the 36 solar panels were built last fall on three large poles at the eastern edge of the property.

Their total cost, including installation, is about $45,000, which Landis estimates would take about 15 years to be recovered in lower power bills.

Since then, however, the panels have been nothing but trouble.

Landis said they never produced as much electricity as promised, apparently because more nearby trees need to be felled, leading to a long discussion with the company about payment.

Much worse, though, is the structures are too close to a town-designated scenic road. No permanent structures can be built within 100 feet of such roads, but the panels are only 35 feet off Mont Vernon Road.

Landis said the setback issue didn't come up because the contractor never got a building permit for the panels.

The family has already asked the ZBA once to give them a waiver, but it declined. Tuesday's hearing at the 7 p.m. meeting is a second attempt, backed up by more evidence from Global Resource Options that the panels can't work anywhere else on the property.

If the ZBA rejects them again, Landis said, he'll probably give the panels back.
Discussing the situation on the phone, he sounded philosophical, blaming neither the town nor Global Resources - "they're swamped with demand, rushing around like chickens with their heads cut off."

Still, he noted, "In 10 years, towns are going to be begging for the citizens to find means (to provide power), energy companies are going to be begging people to do it."

On Hickory Hill, Hebert has said he wants to put three wind turbines with a total output of 25 kilowatts on his 4-acre property. Because the towers would be roughly 90 feet tall, about three times the heights of radio towers and silos that are allowed in Amherst law, the town said he needs permission from the zoning board, after a hearing in which neighbors could comment.

Hebert, who could not be reached for comment, has objected in the past, noting that the ordinances for residential areas don't deal with wind turbines and saying he shouldn't have to get a variance or administrative approval.

He has been rejected once, and he is returning Tuesday for another try.
Whatever happens with these cases, Richardson of the Sustainable Energy Association thinks they're a harbinger of things to come.

"It's sort of like satellite dishes. I think they're still ugly, even the little ones . . . but people accept them. And that's the thing, what we're willing to accept and what we're not willing to accept, we need to start thinking about it," she said.