Urban land once used for industrial purposes sits idle across America, especially in the former industrial cities of the Northeast and Midwest, and much of it may be attractive for solar arrays. There are opportunities if a solar developer knows where to look: a community’s climate action plan and the associated zoning code and map.
Sidebar: A convenient tool for finding marginal land is the RE-Powering Mapper by the US Environmental Protection Agency (https://geopub.epa.gov/repoweringApp/). This online application provides detailed data on thousands of contaminated sites across the country and includes estimations of the solar potential of each (along with potential for wind, geothermal and biomass).
Key to the successful development of urban solar will be the ways in which local government officials treat nontraditional projects. Ground-mounted solar arrays are rare in cities, with relatively few built and owned by private companies (others have been installed on municipally-owned landfills, with power offtake by the municipality). As with any new type of project, city planners, building inspectors, tax assessors and fire personnel will be sensibly cautious in approving something unfamiliar to them. Like they should with any development that may exist for decades, they will want considerable assurance that a project will maintain or improve community character, increase the tax base without costing more in municipal services, and avoid harmful side effects like crime, odor and pollution.
At the same time, city leadership—the administrators above the planners, inspectors, etc.—understand the need to rethink the permissible use of urban land, due to the continuing decline in the nation’s industrial economy. They know that parcels that have long been zoned and held in waiting for industrial uses are finding no takers. While solar has not been considered the highest and best use for this land, absent resurgence in domestic industrial production, that consideration is changing.
Land is often available at the urban core because it contains contaminated soil that worries risk-adverse developers. Since contaminated soil is often left unmitigated and is simply capped with topsoil, the depths of safe excavations—and the possible uses of the land—are limited. But with growing support by city and state governments, this land may be an untapped resource for solar arrays that don’t require deep footings.
It’s not a myth that cities now want renewable energy projects within their boundaries: city leaders are writing this desire into their planning documents.
Climate Action Plans
Local governments that may have restricted redevelopment of urban land in the past are changing due partly to climate policies. Communities across the country are writing climate action plans to cut energy use and promote renewable energy. Usually viewable online, these plans describe how leaders want their community to develop. Many include goals and policies that make marginal land more attractive. Perusing a plan will give a solar developer insight into the thinking of city hall.
Clean energy goals are common elements of climate action plans, typically setting targets to cut consumption by a certain percentage by a given year. These goals tend to be quite lofty, and a back-of-the-envelope calculation can show that reaching the targets will require much larger, faster efforts than are achievable through the small, incremental steps envisioned in a typical plan. Despite its dreams, a municipality lacks the power to meaningfully influence the adoption of electrical vehicles, installation of vehicle charging stations and implementation of renewable energy systems at the needed rates. Yet if the political will exists to aim for the targets, there could be enough support from government officials for large solar arrays within the city limits. This support goes a long way toward overcoming hurdles in the review and permitting process.
Also often discussed in a climate action plan are the local and state environmental regulations that affect clean energy developments. As developers know, these laws aren’t crystal clear, so there is often leeway in determining a project’s compliance. Making the determination is a duty of either or both the municipal planning staff and planning board. Since these people often help write parts of the climate action plan, insight into their regulatory approach may be found there.
While not overtly part of a climate action plan, efforts to increase the tax base underlie all municipal planning. The willingness of a local government to permit a nontraditional project can affect the tone of correspondence coming out of city hall, including planning documents. This tone can be evident in the introductory paragraphs of these documents.
One caveat with municipal planning documents is that they may linger on a city’s website long after a mayoral change and may not reflect current political thinking. Planning can be costly and time consuming, so plans, studies and analyses aren’t always up to date. Check the date of publication and whether the associated leadership is still in place. Discount anything over a few years old or prepared under a previous administration, but don’t ignore it.
States, too, have climate action plans, focused on broad policy issues such as environmental regulation, tax incentives and fiscal budgeting. Solar developers already know which states support the cause, but municipal officials can’t always keep up on countless state policies. A developer can help educate the municipal officials about state energy policy, and show how it supports a proposed project.
Other institutions with climate plans include universities, medical centers and large industrial and office complexes. Like municipal plans, these reflect the institution’s thinking on energy procurement, conservation and efficiency so they can be helpful in guiding a developer’s proposals.
Zoning
A regulatory outcome of climate action plans is revised zoning. One of the obscure controls over the use of land, zoning is administered in conjunction with zoning boards of appeal and planning commissions. An appreciation of zoning’s purpose and regulatory oversight is critical to an urban solar development. The two aspects of zoning are the zoning map and the zoning code.
Most communities are physically divided into zoning districts wherein only specific uses are permitted. These zones or districts are shown on a zoning map, often viewable online. Zoning districts are meant to co-locate complementary uses while segregating noxious, annoying or otherwise unpleasant uses. Principal uses are residential of varying densities, commercial of varying sizes and intensities, and industrial of varying degrees of intensity, noise, smell, truck activity, etc. Other possible uses are entertainment, open space and even urban agriculture. Each use is defined in a zoning code, sometimes narrowly, other times more broadly, which is where a board of appeals or judge may need to weigh in. More about zoning codes later.
The number of zone types that make up a community often reflects the age and nature of the place. Older communities that evolved before zoning became conventional in the 1930s may have a dozen or more district types, because a wide mix of uses existed before the districts were drawn. Conversely, newer bedroom suburbs may have just a handful of district types, perhaps just one- and two-family residences with some small-scale commercial nodes interspersed. Beyond these suburbs may be the larger apartment complexes, fast food restaurants, big box retailers and auto dealers that might be separated into four to six district types.
Boundaries of some districts zig and zag to capture complementary properties, a condition seen in older communities. Younger communities, some of which were planned, tend to have district lines that are more straight edged or that follow topography. Boundaries can move over time as new uses emerge and others decline.
Zoning districts must usually consist of multiple properties to avoid giving a few owners an unfair advantage over their neighbors. Likewise, districts must permit enough uses–or the few permissible uses must be defined broadly enough–that properties provide reasonable economic value to their owners. And while there may not be statutory limits to the number of zones or designations, too many of either can make the whole process unwieldy, counterproductive and potentially unlawful. Conversely, too few can result in a homogenous, perhaps bland community that may be overly dependent upon a segment of the tax base.
Beware that a devil of unintended consequences can hide in a zoning map, and foreseeing where and why said devil may appear can save a developer time and money. Because cities don’t often divide neatly into concise zones, because zone types are limited in number, and because differing zones must naturally abut, there are inevitably uses that don’t fit well side by side. It is at this confluence where zoning officials, boards of appeal and legal staff spend most of their time.
Here’s a hypothetical example of an unintended consequence: When a use is permitted in a zoning district, any zone so designated must accept that use as of right. So, if a downtown zone designated C-2 Medium-Density Commercial permits a 5-story office building, a C-2 zone along a retail avenue must also permit such a building. Similar buildings already line the avenue, so one more should work … except on that empty lot next to the church with the exceptional stained glass windows. Spending a few minutes thinking through such potential conflicts can give a developer a big advantage over the cautious developers who only ply the green acres outside of town.
Working in concert with zoning maps are zoning codes, which define what can occur in each zone. From the outset it is important to realize that there is no national zoning code akin to the International Building Code, the set of standards that has governed building construction across the United States since ___. This can be a good thing, in that a national zoning code could cause every community to look alike. Although state-level governments promulgate model zoning codes as guidance for local governments, the latter may prepare their own standards. Private consultants can help normalize language and syntax, but municipalities may try to save money by using their own staff. Due to the uniqueness of each community and the varied sources and quality of code language, there is no one-size-fits-all zoning code and no global way to know how and where solar arrays may best fit.
Regardless of form and content, a zoning code will typically use the following terms, although defined in legal language:
- Solar as a principal use: the only thing allowable on the site other than accessory features like a driveway, parking area or utility structure;
- Solar as an accessory use: panels sitting alongside, behind or atop a building (the principal use), or perhaps on parking canopies (parking as the principal use);
- Lot coverage: maximum amount of a site that can be covered with buildings, pavement, pools, etc., usually expressed as a percentage of lot size and meant to control density. Urban areas commonly have higher allowable coverages than rural areas, and industrial lots higher than residential lots;
- Minimum lot size: usually expressed in acreage, and often with minimum dimension for at least one side, often the street frontage;
- Setbacks: the distance a structure must be kept away from property lines;
- Height: not as straightforward as one might imagine, heights may be measured to a building’s cornice line rather that it’s roof peak, or to the midpoint of a sloping roof, or begin at the average ground plane rather than the lowest or highest.
A knowledgeable developer will understand that there is room within these regulations for negotiation. Since zoning is applied across parcels of different shapes, sizes, topography, locations, etc. and for uses varying from buildings to parking lots, zoning standards will fit some sites and uses better than others. As noted above, this can be especially true in older communities that evolved prior to zoning laws. Also, the reasoning behind certain standards can be murky or absent, and it can behoove a developer to ask zoning officials for explanations. Any answer that can’t be validated with language in the code should be reviewed by the zoning board of appeals.
Three terms prime for negotiation are lot coverage, setbacks and heights.
- Lot coverage limitations are meant to control density of development for reasons specific to a municipality and zoning district, such as keeping neighbors at arm’s length, preventing fire from spreading, and retaining open ground for rainwater absorption. These reasons don’t apply to solar arrays, so developers should seek maximum coverage.
- Setbacks apply primarily to buildings and parking lots and secondarily to ancillary features like decks, pools, patios, fences and pole signs. Setbacks are applied for many of the same reasons as lot coverage limitations, and like these limitations, few apply to solar arrays. In the industrial zones where arrays may likely be permissible, minimal setbacks should be sought.
- Height limits are applied to everything from buildings to fences to flagpoles. Most are justifiable, but others seem questionable. Limits on the heights of buildings make sense, as firefighting apparatus can reach only so high, and tall buildings can put lower ones in shade. Limits on fences are understandable, both on security and aesthetic grounds. But height limits on solar arrays, particularly inbound from site perimeters, seem hard to justify.
Land use decisions are often made by zoning boards of appeal and planning boards rather than by municipal staff, sometimes as directed by the code or because the code language is unclear or because features of a proposed development are unusual or unanticipated. These boards are peopled by citizen volunteers who may or may be learned in land use planning or complex decision making. Their primary duty—whether as directed from above or simply assumed—is to protect neighboring property owners from problems like noise, odors, traffic or ugly architecture. Their secondary duty is to protect the larger community from same. Only then do they feel a duty to improve the economy of their community.
If there is an important lesson in this article, it is this: If the delta between the primary and tertiary duties of a board member is wide enough, it is easier for that member to deny a project than to approve it, simply because nothing changes so he or she won’t risk the wrath of an unhappy neighbor. Although city leaders may not be pleased, that board member is simply a volunteer, and what’s the worst that can happen?
A way to overcome the default position of denial is to make the project aesthetically attractive. Since solar arrays are purely visual, they should be designed from the viewpoint of neighbors and passersby rather than from overhead. Here a just a few aesthetic issues a developer could consider:
- Grade the site so that the panels flow smoothly over the ground which, despite an added cost, can produce valuable artistic flair;
- Place the array against a background of something taller, like trees, buildings or hills so that the panels aren’t silhouetted against the sky;
- Likewise, place the fence closer to the panels so it isn’t seen against the sky but disappears against the panels. Fences don’t stay straight or plumb for long, so hide them as best possible;
- Be neat and rhythmic with the installation of cables, inverters, racking, etc.;
- And think hard about landscaping. Review boards everywhere take a fallback position by requiring screening for ‘undesirable’ projects using shrubs and trees, but a nicely designed array could offset this costly requirement.
Once design decisions are made, present the proposal to the board using photosimulations rather than just site plans. Architects use ‘photosims’ regularly to show their proposed buildings and board members have grown accustomed—indeed expectant—to seeing them. Photosims should be of the actual site, not generic shots taken of installations elsewhere. Incredibly realistic views can be creates using expensive software that superimposes an array onto photographs of a site.
Finally and critically, show respect for the decision makers, many of whom are unpaid volunteers, and to municipal staff, who are often squeezed between unseen forces. A lot happens behinds the scenes at city hall, and supportive board members and staff can be an invaluable benefit to a developer of urban solar.
